


Knights and Princes

by fucking-androids (Reyire), scruffyperv (Vyntacular)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: All Human!AU, Begging, Biting, Come, Come Fetish, Domestic Fluff, Gentle BDSM, Hank and Connor are Switches, Hank gets kinky, Hank is a Good Dad, M/M, Parental Feels, Past psychological abuse, Pleasure Denial, Possessiveness, Restraints, cole is alive, connor tops, eventual explicit sex, narcissistic abuser
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-08 02:46:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15921242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reyire/pseuds/fucking-androids, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vyntacular/pseuds/scruffyperv
Summary: Oh, fuck, he’s gorgeous, was not the correct thought to be having at a disciplinary meeting about his son!The pale-skinned, dark-haired man looked at him expectantly and, when Hank didn’t introduce himself, slowly raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”Hank cleared his throat, forced himself to look into those questioning doe-like eyes, and not say something flirtatious. “Hello - Mr. Smith, right? - I’m here about Cole.”Hank’s two great passions in life are his son Cole and his career as a crime novelist. Up until now, those two things have never crossed paths, but meeting Connor Smith changes everything. Without meaning to, his son’s teacher becomes the bridge he needs to close the gap between his personal and professional lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, it's Connor here again ;D A new Hankcon fic for you all. My Hank writes: 'The strange result of searching a random AU generator. Stuck in line at an amusement park, snowed in, parent/child’s teacher. Ha.' And that's the story. Hope y'all enjoy it! This chapter is a little short but the next is good and long, so hang in there. As per usual feel free to comment with any questions, thanks for reading and check out our other fics if you have time!!! (:

**_Knights and Princes_ **  
_Chapter One_

Hank was in utter disbelief when he received the call that there was trouble with Cole at the school. His boy had always been a good kid, so what could be going on? The man on the other line had sounded cold but polite, and had given him absolutely no idea of what the actual problem had been. On the way into the building he encountered an angry mother ranting at the school nurse about her precious child being hurt. He rolled his eyes as he walked past. Overprotective parents. What would they ever do when their kids had outgrown them?

Finally, he reached the room he was looking for and knocked on the door before entering. The rest of the children were still out at recess, but Cole was sitting in a chair by the teacher’s desk. He swung his legs petulantly as he pouted. Hank couldn’t believe his eyes. When had his son become a troublemaker? Before he addressed him, Hank turned his attention to the boy’s teacher and froze.

 _Oh, fuck, he’s gorgeous_ , was not the correct thought to be having at a disciplinary meeting about his son!

The pale-skinned, dark-haired man looked at him expectantly and, when Hank didn’t introduce himself, slowly raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Hank cleared his throat, forced himself to look into those questioning doe-like eyes, and not say something flirtatious. “Hello - Mr. Smith, right? - I’m here about Cole.” He nodded toward the now pouting child who seemed to have shrunk in his attempt to disappear from notice. “I heard he caused some sort of problem on the playground today?”

“Oh, yes.” The teacher sighed and pressed his lips into a thin line of displeasure. “Mr. Anderson, Cole’s usually a model student but today he punched his classmate.”

Before Hank could express his displeasure, Cole was suddenly on his feet and shouting: “He was bullying Zoey! He called her names and he’s always pulling her hair and today he _pushed_ her! It wasn’t right and I said so, and then he pushed _me_!” Cole huffed and crossed his arms, as stubborn as his damn father. “So I punched him! Daddy always says I need to stand up for myself and for people smaller than me, don’t you?!”

“Ah, geeze, Cole…” Hank sighed and crouched down to be on his boy’s level. “I’m glad you’re standing up for your friends, but can you tell me the _other_ part of that rule?”

Cole froze and suddenly his hands were folded in his lap instead of crossed defensively. He knew he’d done something wrong. “Tell an adult who can help. Then I bop ‘em one if they don’t stop.”

Hank winced a little, but smiled. “That’s right. And did you tell anyone before you bopped ‘em?”

“…Nooo…”

“Were you upset that they pushed you when you tried to help?”

Cole was pouting prominently. “Uh-huh.”

“Do you hit people when you’re mad?”

The boy sniffled. “No, Daddy.”

“Even if it means protecting your friend?”

“…No, Daddy.”

“That’s a good kid. We’ve got to control our temper or else we’ll wind up getting punched by someone else, yeah?” Hank stood up and ruffled Cole’s hair before he turned his attention to Mr. Smith — and he was still handsome, _damnit_. “I’ll make sure he apologizes to the kid in question. Is there anything else?”

“Er .. no.” the teacher was wide-eyed as he listened to the exchange. Most parents were not that efficient with their children and usually spent most of the time yelling at _him_ for not preventing incidents. Or the kid just screamed until talking became impossible and the parents gave up. …Some days he wondered why he had decided to become a teacher. Clearing his throat, he turned to Cole. “Please make sure this doesn’t happen again, okay, Cole?”

Hank was going to die if those doe-eyes got any bigger. Cole nodded firmly and jumped up to his feet. “Okay, Mr. Smith!”

“Go get your things, kiddo.” Cole took off like a little bolt. He’d be less happy when they found that wailing mother in the nurse’s office - if she was still there - but that was a concern for later. “Hey, before I go. I’m Hank.” He held out a hand. “Sue’s usually the one who handles school stuff so I don’t think we’ve had a chance to meet before this.”

“I’m Connor,” replied the teacher, grasping his hand firmly to shake it. He was getting a better look at Cole’s father now and was a little unhappy with himself. He liked what he saw. “And Sue is .. your wife?”

“Pleasure to officially meet you.” He laughed at the question. “Nah, Ex-Wife. My alter ego is actually a bachelor, but don’t tell Cole. He still thinks I’m a superhero when he’s visiting his Mom.”

“Dad! I do not!”

Hank feigned injury. “But! I was so certain!” He clutched his chest for a moment before letting off with a chuckle. “Alright… We better go find this other kid - Oh! Right! You got a name and number? I heard someone throwing a fit in the nurse’s office so I assumed that was them, but if I missed them then I’ll give them a call.”

“I’m sure Mrs. Ross is still in there, but if not, the office will have the information you need. Thanks so much for coming in.” Connor chuckled at the interactions between the pair. It was sweet. And it was nice to know at least one of the parents of his students wasn’t batshit crazy. He sighed under his breath at the thought of his previous conversation with Mrs. Ross.

Hank laughed a little beneath his breath. Damn he wished he had a reason to talk to Connor again, but there was no way in hell he’d be back here with Cole, his boy knew better. “No problem,” Hank replied cheerfully and then turned his attention to Cole. “Alright, now: nurse’s office. We’re gonna go be serious and tell Mrs. Ross and the bully that we’re sorry and that we won’t do it again, won’t we?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Connor gave them a little wave as they left. Ah, well. He supposed that would be the last time he’d see Hank. The ex-wife would probably handle the rest of the conferences and such. What a shame. He turned back to his planner to get ready for the second half of the day.

***

The off weeks without Cole were always annoying to settle into. It meant a full week devoted to writing, which was great, but it also meant his routine was off. Sumo’s usual afternoon walk to pick up Cole didn’t work, especially since he wouldn’t go anywhere near the route if it meant seeing Sue when he didn’t have to. Today, however, he’d thankfully been distracted long enough that it was well outside of the typical high-risk times, so he took the usual route past the school toward the dog park.

Of all things, he did not expect to run into Cole’s teacher — even if it was a lovely evening for… He looked Connor over as he paused to gulp water from his bottle. Running, apparently. No wonder he looked so good. The handsome teacher paused, peering off into where the sun dipped slowly beneath the horizon.

“Good evening — Connor, right?” Sumo let out a low woof of complaint that they had stopped their stroll so abruptly.

“Oh, Mr. Anderson,” Connor almost shouted and then pulled his earbuds out. He had been cooling down from his run when he stopped to admire the skyline and had been caught a little unaware by Hank. He pushed the unruly strand of hair he always struggled with out of his face and took in the other man’s ridiculously large dog. “Yes, it is Connor. You have a Saint Bernard? What’s his name?”

Hank smirked at the momentary volume before Connor pulled out his earbuds. “Please, call me Hank.” He glanced down to the dog at his heel. “This is Sumo. You okay with big dogs? He’s gentle as a lamb but his size intimidates a lot of people.”

“That’s fine, I like dogs, no matter what size they are.” he came closer and let Sumo smell him before he patted the dog on the head. “It’s nice to see you again, by the way.”

Oh good, it was no fun if a cute guy didn’t also like dogs. “I’ll warn ya —“ and Sumo gave him a big wet slurp. “That he drools a lot when he’s happy… Sorry.” Doing his best not to chuckle, Hank went on. “It’s good to see you too. Cole was telling me how much he enjoys being in your classes; he’s always telling me how smart you are.”

Connor wiped his hand on his pants and seemed unconcerned by the drool. “I am glad to hear that. Most of the seven year olds seem to think they know more than me.”

Hank snorted. “He’s damn good as far as seven year olds are concerned. I’m pretty proud of him.” He let his eyes wander absently over Connor, unable to resist checking him out. “You, uh, jog here a lot?”

“Yeah, I live in the area.” Connor confirmed. “And this time of day, there seems to be less people around so I tend to come out now.” He felt a little self-conscious in his running gear. Was the other man checking him out? Part of him hoped so.

It was particularly hard to resist the temptation when Connor was wearing such wonderfully fitted clothes. “Usually I walk the dog a little earlier but work kept me longer than I intended.” He hesitated as he looked over Connor again. “Maybe I’ll have to start coming out here more often.”

“O-oh,” the sound came out of Connor before he could stop it and he hoped the dim light prevented Hank from seeing the slight redness in his face. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you more.” he admitted. Wow, did he really just say that?

Damn, did he realize how cute he was? Hank leaned a little closer to the other man, wondering just how inappropriate it’d be if he asked him whether or not he liked men… Sumo gave another little woof and he smiled reluctantly. “I guess duty calls,” he sighed. “Hope to see you around, Connor. I’ll keep an eye out.” He scanned the younger man again and then waved cheerfully as he strolled off.

“Bye, Hank,” the younger man waved at him weakly and watched him walk off. It was probably still a bad idea to pursue anything with one of his student’s parents anyway. He stuck his earbuds back in and left in the opposite direction.

***

Sue was calling? Hank stared down at the phone in his hand reluctantly. She only bothered to actually call when it was an emergency and even then he hated being stuck on the phone with her.

“Hey, Sue? Everything alright?”

“Hank, you’re not busy right?”

“I was literally just working.”

“On one of your manuscripts though, right? You can take a break and pick it up whenever! I’ve got an important meeting that just got scheduled and, you see, it conflicts with one of Cole’s field trips.”

“Sue, have you forgotten that I’m not exactly crowd friendly?”

“I bet the other parents will just _love_ you!” Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. “Don’t be a child, Hank. I need you to do this for Cole, he’ll just be so happy that you decided to take him. It’s better than breaking his heart with another ‘I have to work’ emergency.”

“That…” he let out a suffering sigh. This was absolutely the last thing he wanted… but then again, there was that handsome teacher Cole had. “Fuck it, where’s this field trip?”

“Oh good! I knew you’d come through for Cole!”

“The next villain in my novel is going to be named Sue - she’ll be a master fucking manipulator.” He grumbled. “Y’know what, just text me the fucking info. I’ll show up and surprise the kid, but you owe me. My work isn’t —“

“Alright, texted you the info!” His phone vibrated as she spoke. “Nice talk, Hank. Bye!”

The call ended and he was left staring blankly at the sentence he’d cut off in the middle of to take this ‘emergency’ call. He had no idea where he was going with it anymore. With a growl he stood up and stomped into the living room. “Come on, Sumo. Let’s go for a walk.” Sumo was immediately at his heels, tail wagging gleefully. “Good boy.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hank end up on a field trip together ;D Fun times. Enjoy!!

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Two_

Two weeks later, Hank was arriving at the school with the rest of the chaperones. There were four of them in total - a meek looking househusband, one of those earthy laidback single moms, a cheery-faced woman who laughed at everything, and him: grizzled, grumpy, and about 20 years older than the lot of them. Mr. Househusband kept trying to sidle over and talk to him about ‘guy stuff’ but the only thing they could agree on was which sports teams didn’t suck… and then Hank purposefully scared him away by talking a bit too enthusiastically about a crime serial on TV.

Whoops.

Sort of.

The kids emerged from the school and there was an immediate flood toward the chaperones. Kids ran to their parents, dragging their friends along, and Cole was part of that eager crowd. For a second he scanned the parents and disappointment flickered on his little face before it was replaced by sheer excitement.

“Daddy!? I thought Mom was coming today?!”

Hank’s tension eased almost instantly. He was in his element with Cole, not so much the other parents. “Surprise! Mommy wanted me to keep it a secret, I hope you’re not too disappointed to have me instead.”

“No way!” Cole pounced him and he hefted the kid up into a bear hug.

“And who’s your friend?”

When he set Cole down, Cole grabbed the other kid gently and pulled her over. “This is Zoey! She’s my friend now!” He turned to Zoey, eyes shining. “This is my dad! He’s super cool and super strong and he’s got a HUGE DOG…” Apparently he had to catch Zoey up on all the great details about Hank that Hank didn’t even know about himself.

He smiled weakly… and then his eyes fell on Mr. Smith. Damn, he almost forgot how good looking the guy was. Not in the typical way, but definitely in the way he liked. He was a little bundle of mixed messages; stiff and formal with the parents, trying too hard to impress them despite his age probably, but bright-eyed and laughing with the children like he was one of them. Somehow he managed to look innocent and overly mature in the same breath.

Hank liked it.

And that was shit. He couldn’t have a thing for his son’s teacher. That had to be against some sort of rule somewhere. Across the sea of children, his eyes met Connor’s and he felt his heart skip a beat. Fuck. He ducked his head, pretended to focus on Cole, but he could already see the teacher making his way toward him.

“I thought Sue was going to be here today?”

“Ah, didn’t she…” He glanced at the kids and back at Connor. “She thought Cole would prefer it if I came for once.” Hopefully he’d accept the lie and let it lay so that he didn’t have to worry about hurting Cole’s feelings.

“Hm, I see.” Connor answered and then left it at that. “I’m personally glad you didn’t flake out like some of our other chaperones. We will probably split up into groups when we get to the park, but for now I’ll probably sit with you and Cole and Zoey can sit together. Is that okay with you kids?” His mind was racing a bit at the fact he’d be squished into a small school bus seat with a guy he had a crush on but he tried not to think about that and just focused on his duties as a teacher.

“Okay!” Cole and Zoey chimed together before hurrying away to get in line for the bus.

“I’m glad I can help…” It took more than a couple seconds to unstick his brain from ‘I’ll be sharing a bus seat with this guy’ and make his way to the word park. “Park? What sort of trip is this, anyway? Everyone looks super jazzed.” He had a sinking suspicion and he hated it already.

Why would Sue torture him like this?

Oh wait, because it was Sue.

“Ah, yes, it’s an amusement park trip. Everyone’s favorite thing.” the teacher’s tone definitely held a note of sarcasm. He grimaced at Hank in an amusing way but it faded into a smile. Now if he could focus on his damn job and not how handsome Cole’s father looked. He was definitely not thinking about pulling out the man’s hair tie to see what he would look like with it down. Definitely.

Hank pressed his lips together to resist a grimace of his own. “ _Oh_.” He took a deep breath and then just sighed and shrugged. “Alright. Sounds fun.” He glanced sidelong at the other man. “I guess we’ll have a blast together, huh?” That was supposed to sound a whole lot less flirtatious than it did. “I mean… since you seem about as thrilled as I am.” He cleared his throat.

Connor leaned in slightly. “As long as none of the kids try to force me on any rollercoasters, it won’t be too bad.” he confessed. “They do that puppy dog eye thing and I always get sick. It’s terrible.” He was a little incredulous at how easy it was to talk to Hank. They seemed to think similarly.

Hank did a little swearing montage as he tried to ignore how close Connor was and they weren’t even on the damn bus yet. “Ha!” He snickered. “I don’t mind them as much as I mind the crowds, personally.” He laid a hand on Connor’s shoulder in solidarity. “I’ll ride with the kids if you need me to.” Though, the idea of this tight-laced teacher type getting all flustered over a rollercoaster was kind of… adorable.

“You would? Oh, thank you. I hate it so much.” the teacher’s eyes went unnecessarily bright at the offer and he ignored the burning in his cheeks at the casual touch. He then glanced toward the thinning amount of people around them. “Ah, let’s get on the bus now, I think most of everyone has already boarded.”

Fuck. He was so damn cute. This wasn’t fair! He bit his lip as the teacher turned to join his students on the bus. This whole day was going to be a nightmare… but at least he got to stick around with Connor… He filed onto the bus at last and settled into the seat. He was a big guy, but thankfully Connor was lean so they weren’t literally on top of each other. It just felt that way.

He tilted in the seat so that he wasn’t right up against Connor and laid his arm on the back of the seat. When he sat down Cole was in Deep Conversation with Zoey and neither of them seemed interested in breaking their little pact of whispering to see what he was up to. How cute. When would he have to start having ‘talks’ about this sort of thing? Ughhh.

Hank refocused onto Connor, the lesser of two fears, and he tilted his head. “I’m going to guess this isn’t one of those little nearby places, it’s actually one of the big ones?” Which meant they’d be pressed like this for a while. “So, uh, how long have you been a teacher?” Oh no, his greatest weakness: small talk.

Connor had his hands folded in his lap and his knees unfortunately braced uncomfortably against the back of the seat in front of him. That’s what he got for having stupidly long legs he supposed. “To answer your question, yes it’s one of the larger ones, though the crowd should at least be a bit smaller today since it’s a weekday. And this is only my second year teaching, but I was a student-teacher before that. I really wanted to teach a higher grade but this is what they had open so I wasn’t going to be picky.”

“You seem to get along pretty well with them, at least.”

“I do, and that does make things easier. What do you do, Hank?” Connor questioned. He was genuinely interested in the man and not only his looks, which honestly, surprised him. He hadn’t felt this way for a good while.

Hank hesitated briefly. Should he really… He lowered his voice a little, making sure the conversation was just between the two of them. “I’m a writer, actually. Under a pen name though, so don’t go trying to find out my dirty secrets.”

Connor laughed softly. “Would I be shocked?”

Fuck, he was even more attractive when he was laughing like this. “Maybe not. I’m just not a fan of the attention.” He shook his head slightly. “I write a crime serial, though.”

Connor was about to answer when the bus took a hard turn and he couldn’t help brushing up against Hank. He slid back to his place by the window, a little more than embarrassed. His thoughts turned to all sorts of things and he scolded himself. “Uh, sorry,” he offered.

Suddenly Connor was up against him and Hank found himself struggling to process just what to do with himself. The young teacher even smelled good. He bit his lip to keep from saying anything and then let his breath out in a rush. “Uh, hah, no problem. It happens.”

Curling up against the window even tighter, Connor looked down at his legs and nowhere near Hank as he tried to resume their conversation, but it was a bit awkward for both of them after that.

Hank had never been so grateful to arrive at an amusement park. For once he had something he wanted to escape from — the awkward sexual tension between himself and his son’s goddamn teacher. The moment they were off the bus Cole and Zoey had tackled him and were dragging him here and there. He immediately lost track of Connor in the crowd. All the groups were planning to meet back up at the restaurant at 2pm, plenty of time for him to kick off this desperate arousal that was plaguing him.

For a while they were just happily jumping from ride to ride, looking at this or that, nothing particularly interesting. Suddenly Cole and Zoey steered him into line and… he was standing behind Connor.

Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck.

“Hi Mr. Smith!” Cole chirped in a syrupy sweet voice. “Oh! Benji! Are you going on this roller coaster too?”

“And Sam!” Zoey announced cheerfully, also peeking around Connor to see the little group of kids bustling around him.

Immediately they ducked away from their chaperone to stand with their classmates and began talking animatedly about the park. Hank was left ‘alone’ with Connor. “Heh, they suckered you into a rollercoaster after all?”

Connor was sure his face was already looking pale. “Yep.” he swallowed unhappily. “I think they’d notice if I left too.” He was too busy being displeased about the rollercoaster to focus on the fact that Hank and him were in close proximity again. The man’s presence actually made him feel a smidgen better.

Hank felt a little bad for the poor guy. He was pale and looked rather shaken. Was he really that uncomfortable with roller coasters? “They probably would, yeah.” The line moved forward, and he moved forward with it. “Enjoying yourself otherwise?”

“Yeah .. I like seeing the kids in a non-classroom setting and I like amusement parks .. I just hate rollercoasters.” the younger man shook his head. “How are you doing?”

“That’s good,” he muttered. “The crowds are… overwhelming, as always… but Cole’s excitement more than makes up for it.”

As they spoke the line inched forward step by step until they were standing at the entrance to the ride. Without warning, Cole turned and grabbed Hank, whispering into his ear: “Mr. Smith is afraid of rollercoasters! You should protect him!” Then he jumped away and the kids surged forward together: they filled a bench. Which left Hank and Connor to be moved into the next bench.

Wait.

What?

Before he knew it he was sitting alone with Connor in the very front of the rollercoaster with a gaggle of giggling children behind them. Had Cole planned this??? He couldn’t tell if he was delighted by his son’s craftiness or horrified that he’d been so obvious.

“I probably don’t need to mention that the front is a bit rough, right?” Cole didn’t need to tell him to protect Connor, but the tiny encouragement certainly gave him a bit of confidence as he laid his hand gently on Connor’s.

Connor pressed his lips together and swallowed hard. “Mmhmm.” He wondered if there was any way to warn Hank he might lose feeling in his hand before the ride was over but he was too afraid to open his mouth. Instead he just interlaced their fingers and focused on breathing.

Hank just smiled softly. It almost felt wrong to enjoy the fact that he was on a rollercoaster with how terrified Connor was. He held Connor’s hand tightly, gently rubbing circles against the flesh with his thumb and occasionally gave him little squeezes as the car started moving. Before long they’d be at the top and the real fun would start. The kids wouldn’t hear him over the noise of the coaster, so he leaned in and quietly whispered: “You can hang onto me if you need to.”

The younger man just nodded again. He looked down at his feet and attempted to ignore his body’s warning signals that it was far too high in the air.

There was always an expectant pause before the car moved into position and gravity took over. This was no different. Instantly they were shooting down the length of the track and, despite himself, he was laughing whole heartedly. Connor, on the other hand, was screaming. Openly. He’d gone from just clinging to his hand to clutching his entire arm. The harness held them in place, but he held Connor to the best of his ability.

Finally the ride slowed and then ground to a snail’s crawl before stopping completely. An attendant helped them out, but Hank was the one who supported Connor as they walked away from the coaster. 

“I fucking hate those things,” Connor muttered under his breath to Hank, unsure if any kids were around but also not really caring. He never handled rollercoasters well. He was shaking slightly and really not focused on the fact he was being held.

Hank supported Connor all the way down to the kiosks selling the photos. He stopped Cole who was grinning like a nut and told him to buy two of the pictures. Cole didn’t even need to ask which ones. He returned a moment later with both photos and a lollipop. Hank confiscated the lollipop on account of sharing with friends, but promised to buy him something at the restaurant for lunch. 

Finally they were out of the crowd and Hank guided Connor to a bench nearby. “Here you are, take a breather and I’ll be right back.” He turned to the children with a very serious expression. “Alright, kids! I need you all to do me a big favor! Mr. Smith isn’t feeling well and I need to get him some water. Can we all keep an eye on him and make sure he stays sitting down?”

“Okay!” Cole announced. The rest of the group seemed dubious about being the ones to keep an eye on their teacher, but Hank trusted Cole’s determination to hold Connor in place until he got back.

Connor remained slumped onto the bench with his eyes closed, focusing on breathing in and out. It would be so stupid if he passed out. He managed to stay conscious last year, he could do it this year too.

Hank gave Connor a once over and changed his decision. Water and apple juice. He purchased both for Connor and an order of funnel cake for the kids. When he returned his expectation was correct; all the children now looked vaguely concerned and were squirming. He gave them the funnel cake and pointed them to the bench beside his own. They immediately forgot about their teacher’s distress and dove into the warm cake. Hank focused on Connor.

“Take a sip,” he encouraged, “just a small one.”

Fumbling a little bit with the cap, Connor managed to take a small sip of the cool water. Somehow he prevented himself from dropping the entire thing. The water hit his churning stomach a little unpleasantly, so he drank more to keep everything down. “Thanks,” he gasped, after a minute. Was it actually this bad last year too? He tried to think. Yes. Yes it was. He sighed and tried to get his eyes to focus again.

Hank gently removed the bottle from Connor’s hands, forcing him to wait before he took more. “Give it a couple minutes, then you can have more.” Despite his authoritative tone, his expression was one of concern. “And don’t mention it.” He gave Connor a beat to keep everything down and then offered the bottle again. “Slowly,” he reminded him.

Connor obeyed Hank and sipped the water more carefully this time. “I think everything is going to stay in one place. Like, my food. And the scenery.” He blinked and rubbed his forehead. “I also think maybe I’ve had enough of roller coasters for about forever.”

“If _this_ is how you react to them, I strongly agree. You said you didn’t like them, not that you nearly pass out.” More concern; he couldn’t help himself. Like Cole had suggested, he was a protector through and through. “Can you try the apple juice for me? The sugar should help even you out a little bit before you try anything like standing up.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t remember last year very well. Maybe I passed out then too ..” Connor felt embarrassed so he ducked his head and took sips of the apple juice to avoid looking at Hank’s eyes.

Hank stared at him for a moment and then laughed heartily. “Christ, Connor, you’re something else.” He shifted in his seat, double checked that the children were all safe and accounted for, then turned back to Connor. “How’s that sitting?”

“Fine,” Connor said, still not looking directly at the other man. “I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble. Now you’re even doing my job for me.” He felt immature.

Hank shifted and sunk back into the bench beside Connor. “Nah, it’s no trouble. It’s what I’m here for, right? Making sure you’re not the only adult watching them.” He gave Connor a little pat on the leg before popping open the water bottle and taking a deep sip of his own. “Besides,” he muttered low enough that only Connor can hear him, “I’ve got a really cute photo of you clinging to me. I’m not exactly put out.” Hank glanced back at the teacher, hoping he wasn't being too forward this time.

Connor’s eyes widened and he finally met Hank’s gaze again. “Oh .. uh, cute, you say?” Like cute as in pathetic or cute as in adorable? His chest tightened slightly but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. His face went from pale to noticeably red quickly.

Relief. Connor wasn't upset with him for being flirtatious. “Yeah,” he picked up the little cardboard sleeve and popped it open to show Connor the picture of them: Connor clutching at him with his eyes squeezed shut. “I wouldn’t put you through it again, knowing that it makes you this unsettled, but I don’t regret getting the opportunity to see you like this.” Hank hesitated, realizing just how… inappropriate that all sounded. He cleared his throat. “I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable…”

“Oh, Hank, not at all,” the younger man admitted. That .. came out easily. It was the truth though. “I’m quite .. flattered.” He cringed a little at the photo of himself. “I look terrible.” He laughed.

Hank snapped the sleeve shut and held it to his chest possessively. Connor being flattered made him blush more than he’d like to admit but he quickly covered it up with humor; the coward’s way out. “Nope. It’s mine now, you don’t get to worry about that.” He exchanged it for a different one. “This one’s for you. I figured it’d make the rest of the ride worth it.” This photo only showed a fraction of Connor and Hank’s heads in the lower portion and was mostly dominated by four very excited children all flailing happily in their seats. “…We all had a great time because of you, so don’t be so down on yourself.”

“I mean,” Connor sighed and smiled. “That was the whole point so .. you’re right. Everything is well that ends well, I guess. Now that I’m not on the brink of death, we should probably get to that restaurant before everyone thinks we’ve disappeared.” He stood and though he still felt off, he wasn’t wobbly anymore and that made him more confident.

Hank watched him when he stood, making sure he didn’t come tumbling back down, and when he was confident that Connor was steady, he climbed to his feet to join him. “Just in time, the ravenous beasts have finished their offering.”

The words had barely left his lips when the crowd of children hurried toward them. “Awh,” one of the kids muttered. “I heard he barfed last time!”

Hank bopped the kid on the head, not enough to hurt but enough to steal the kid’s attention. “That’s no way to talk to your teacher.”

The kid’s eyes went wide and Hank chuckled. “Come on, who can show me the way back to the restaurant?”

Cole, of course, had begun jumping up and down. “Oh! I remember!” Which, in turn, lead to a gaggle of children attempting to lead them both back. It wasn’t an effective route back to their destination, but it was stupidly cute.

After a bit of running around in circles with over excited children, Hank and Connor managed to make it back to the restaurant in the appropriate time frame to join the other chaperones and their groups for lunch. After lunch it was a quick procession back to the bus, and the long trip back to the school. Househusband was still avoiding Hank, and now that Cheery Mom has had a taste of attempting to talk to him she was now also avoiding him.

Two down. Could he get Single Mom to crack on the bus ride back?

Thankfully, he was sitting with Connor again and didn't get to find out if he was going to weird out another parent. “I’m really f…” He sighed out the f instead of continuing what he was going to say, then started over. “I’m really bad at this.” For that matter, how the hell had he managed to avoid insulting or frightening Connor by now? “You don’t find me unbearably abrasive?” Come to think of it, Connor hadn’t tried to socialize with him much beyond the scope of Cole… and, honestly, Cole was the only thing in his life that he seemed to do right. Aside from writing bloody mysteries with brooding detectives.

Connor snorted. He was back in his tiny curled up space against the bus window, trying not to touch Hank. …Despite the fact that they’d been touching A LOT earlier. He was currently pretending that whole thing hadn’t happened, thank you. “In what way are you abrasive? You’ve always been hilariously sarcastic to me.”

He hesitated and then laughed, a little too loudly. He coughed and cleared his throat. “Well, I suppose that explains it. I’m fairly certain it’s my sarcasm that people find abrasive.” He glanced toward the other parents and shook his head. “Well, at least my humor isn’t lost on everyone.”

“I get it, I have to tone down my sarcasm at work or I’ll be mocking seven year olds. And that’s not a way to keep a job.” the younger man said, a little on the quiet side. He tried to present a very calm and collected front to most of the parents.

Hank smirked. “Don’t get me started. It’s taken years to master this art of not mocking seven year olds.” Seven of them, in fact. “So then the other parents start asking me personal questions and all I can think about is work.” Along with his art of not mocking young children, Hank had also learned the art of talking softly enough that Cole was not perpetually leaning over his shoulder shouting 'WHAT?'; which he had done on numerous occasions to the chagrin of many. “Which, for me, isn’t if Lisa filed the wrong paper; it’s a debate on articulated corpses.” 

He was doing it again, kind of. This time it was more intentional. If he was going to scare Connor away with his interests then it’d be better to do it now and save himself the pain of _actually_ getting interested.

“So, people don’t like you talking about dead bodies? I used to blog about that stuff when I was a teenager. True crime and novels and spooky stuff. I was actually wondering if I read any of your books.” Connor looked at him imploringly, wondering if Hank would actually tell him his pen name this time.

Hank seemed, momentarily, lost at what to say. He was actually interested in this sort of thing? “I… Yeah… That usually sends ‘em running…” He muttered, somewhat stunned. “Uhm, why not… I write under Clancy Brown. I work with some guys in the DPD, so it’s got a lot of acclaim for being a realistic spin on the typical fiction.”

“Really?!” Connor covered his mouth when he realized how loud he had said that. “Sorry,” he said, embarrassed. Wasn’t the first time that day .. “But I’ve read tons of your books. Um. If you ever find that one review I wrote online when I was like seventeen, just ignore the entire thing. Please.”

Hank could not recall a time in his existence that he had ever been so pleased and so embarrassed in the same moment. Connor’s bright-eyed excitement made his heart skip and, for a moment, the actual attention made him want to run. That was why he kept himself so damn secret that he was practically famous just for being so unreachable.

“I…” He didn’t know what to say. He shook his head after a moment and smiled, genuinely. “Thanks, I’m flattered… and now _extremely_ curious.”

It was hard for Connor to tell but he suspected that Hank might even be blushing a little bit. “Really, please don’t try to find my blog.” he begged.

Hank stared hard at Connor, his tongue flicking out briefly to run along his lips. “You’re making it harder, Connor, you realize this, don’t you?”

Connor blinked. Did the atmosphere between them get slightly .. sexual just now? His own face heated up and his eyes couldn’t help darting to Hank’s tongue on his lips. “Please?” he squeaked, not finding any other words.

Hank was going to die. Connor was handsome, he already knew that, but this was something else. He was pushing all of his buttons and there was nothing he could do about it. Not here, not on a bus full of kids, with other parents glancing in their direction. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I promise.” _to not look for it until I get home_. “Just stop saying please like that, I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“O-okay.” Connor answered, his eyes stupidly wide and his heart thudding quickly in his chest. This might be a little more than a crush. Maybe for both of them.

Hank took another calming breath, letting his excitement ease into dull pleasure so that he wouldn’t make a scene on the bus. He was a grown fucking man, he could control himself! “So, now that that’s out of the box…” He forced out a chuckle. “What sort of crime novels do you like, other than my own?” _Because everything else I want to ask you is wildly inappropriate and I’m absolutely_ fucked..

“Ah, um,” the younger man’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “I read a lot of true crime ones too, not just fictional ones. I could maybe… e-mail you a list of my recommendations. If you don’t mind.” He hoped that was a subtle enough invitation to keep in contact outside of school events.

Hank had to keep reminding himself not to lose his head, but he smiled brilliantly when Connor offered him the in he’d been looking for. He couldn’t just invite him over now that he knew Connor liked his writing. That was too manipulative. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all.. He brushed the thought aside; he wouldn’t give up that cute pleading anymore than he’d give up the adorable picture of Connor clinging to him on a rollercoaster.

“No, no, I don’t mind at all. I’d love it if you emailed me sometime.” He pulled out his phone and glanced up at Connor. “What’s your address, I’ll email you mine. Or I could text it to you, if you’d rather.” _Then you can have my number too_.

“Text would be fine,” Connor’s eyes were bright again as he read off his phone number to Hank. He was pleased he hadn’t been misreading signals or imagining anything .. he hoped. Connor didn’t want to get ahead of himself after all, they were still just having friendly discussions about books. For now.

This day couldn’t have gone any fucking better. He could care less about crowds after getting Connor’s number. He texted the young teacher his information and added, not so subtly: [Maybe we can discuss that recommendation list over dinner?]

“Thanks,” murmured Connor as he glanced at his phone. Then he noticed the extra text that followed the first. He quickly texted back and shoved his phone in his pocket. [I’d love that.]


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for your support and comments!!!

**_Knights and Princes_ **  
_Chapter Three_

The first thing Hank did when he got home was search for Connor’s blog. 

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the best with technology and his searching skills proved to be lacking. He couldn’t definitively say if he found anything or not, and by the time he was done he quietly swore off randomly searching for online reviews of his work. The internet was a terrifying place and he was so out of touch with the current slang that he felt considerably older than 53.

He was gratefully distracted from his momentary crisis by a text message from Connor asking to meet again on Saturday. At least he wasn’t the only one eager to get together again.

They ultimately decided on some delivery place from a random Asian fusion place that Hank had ordered from before. In all honesty, it didn’t really matter to either of them. Dinner was just a convenient excuse to spend time alone together.

Or so he hoped. It was hard to tell through text.

Ugh. This felt far too much like dating in his teenage years. The mixture of giddy and terrified, the fluttering and twisting in his gut. He wanted to drink to soothe the excited anxiety, but that was rarely a good idea. Then the doorbell rang and he forced himself to be calm and collected before he opened the door.

“Hey Connor,” he stepped back even as he greedily took in the sight of Connor in more casual attire. Still an adorably awkward hottie. “Come on in.”

“Hi, Hank,” the teacher stepped inside and tried to quell some of his nervousness by glancing around Hank’s house. He liked the decor; comfortable rather than stylish, and the many, many shelves full of books. Neither of them had officially used the word ‘date’ in their communications but this was obviously one of them. Or so Connor hoped. Either that or he was projecting and Hank wasn’t even into someone in his twenties. Or men. He tried not to cringe at his own thoughts. Anxiety was fun. He swallowed back his stupid thoughts and tried to focus on the man in front of him. “Thanks for inviting me over.”

Hank couldn’t take his eyes off Connor, so it was easy to notice him curiously scanning his place. Thankfully, he’d cleaned up a bit so the floor wasn’t a minefield of dog toys like it usually was. The shelves had an interesting assortment of books, ranging from more child friendly topics - closer to Cole’s reachable height - and ranging into darker topics as they went up. There was a collection of his own novels up at the top of one shelf, accompanied by a number of binders labeled ‘manuscripts’ with mock up names drafted on their spines.

He wondered briefly if Connor still read his work or if it was an adolescent fascination.

“Of course. Your list was actually very thorough, I was impressed.” Talking about work was something that was easy for him, finding people who wanted to hear about it was something else entirely. “I do have a few you didn’t have on the list that I thought you’d like to read, but there were some I don’t have. Would you be interested in swapping books at some point?” He stopped himself before he could start rambling and cleared his throat. “Would you like something to drink?”

Connor was pleased that the older man liked his list but he chuckled slightly at the two rapidly asked questions. Maybe he wasn’t the only one nervous. “I’d love to swap books. You’ll have to send me a list of the ones you want. And sure, what do you have?”

“I’ll do that,” he replied somewhat bashfully as he headed toward the fridge. “I’ve got water, juice, iced tea, and beer in the fridge. Or I can put on a cup of coffee, if you’d like that instead.”

“Iced tea would be fine, thanks.” Connor said, deciding to avoid anything alcoholic for the time being. He was on edge but being sober for the moment was probably better for him. Then he wouldn’t try anything stupid.

Hank got out two glasses and poured them both iced tea. “No problem.” He returned to the living room and offered Connor a glass before settling into the plush sofa. Hank took a sip and told himself to chill before he spoke up again. “So what got you interested in crime and horror shit? You seem like such a straight-laced guy on the surface.”

“Ah, my parents liked to watch true crime series on tv, so I ended up watching them too and once I had my own computer and the internet, I dug deeper. It always fascinated me, from how missing people are matched up to unidentified people, forensics, and the methodology of serial killers. But it was never more than a hobby so I went to school to learn to teach instead.” Connor settled into the comfy sofa and sipped his tea. “And if you think I’m straight-laced then my whole “I’m a wholesome young teacher” thing is working, which is good to know.”

Hank listened with a little grin. Connor sounded a lot like himself in a lot of ways. He had opened his mouth to say something about teaching when Connor’s comment blindsided him. “Is that so? Are you trying to tell me that you’re not a wholesome, young teacher?” Why could he not stop himself from hitting on this man?

“Not _precisely_.” He smirked over his glass of iced tea, blushing just a little bit. “But no one at work needs to know that.”

Hank had to force himself to keep his breathing even, to keep from saying or doing something truly stupid. “Well, I can keep a secret… What’s so unwholesome about you?” As he spoke he let his eyes graze blatantly over Connor’s body, admiring him openly for the first time since they’d met.

Connor’s blush grew a little deeper, but his eyes were mischievous. “I don’t think I’m ready to share that quite yet.”

Hank arched a brow and grinned a little to himself at the sight of that light blush growing deeper. “You’re going to make me work for it, huh?” What would Connor do if he kissed him? The thought was terribly tempting, especially with that glint in his eyes. “Well, how about you ask me something about myself then?”

“Okay,” Connor agreed, glad to take the focus off of himself. “If you don’t mind me asking, I’d like to know exactly what you had in mind by inviting me over for dinner.” It made him nervous but before he got in any deeper with Hank (and he was already in pretty over his head), he wanted to know the older man’s intentions.

“Ah… Fair question. Firstly, you’re a good looking guy. Figured that’d be the start and end of it, but I keep finding more and more that I like about you.” That part was easy enough, it was the actual reason for inviting him here that was harder. “I wanted a chance to get to know you outside of your work, and to find out if you were interested in pursuing something more _personal_ with me.” He eyed Connor thoughtfully. “I got a vibe that you weren’t entirely uninterested in my flirting. I’m hoping that I’m not wrong about that.”

Connor’s expression changed as Hank spoke; his eyes lit up again. “You’re not wrong about that at all. I just didn’t want to make assumptions. I wasn’t even sure if you were interested in men.” he smiled a little sheepishly. “That’s good to know.”

Hank liked that brightness in his eyes, it made his stomach twist with excitement. He might actually have a shot with Connor. “Ha, yeah, that’s important to know. I’m bi - hence the ex-wife and all - and I’m very much interested in men.”

“I’m gay so .. yeah.” Connor volunteered and then felt a little silly. He took a few more sips of his tea to steady his nerves; now he was getting too excited. “Do you have any personal questions for me?”

That made everything much easier. “Mmm… Well now that I know I wasn’t imagining all the flirting, I’ve got a big one.” He paused a little, let the adorable man squirm some, and then continued: “Do you mind if I kiss you?” He’d wanted to since that damn rollercoaster ride and then the bus, with that sexy begging… “I haven’t been able to think about much else since yesterday afternoon.”

“I don’t mind,” the younger man murmured. He set down his drink on the table and hoped that Hank couldn’t hear how hard his heart was beating at the thought of just kissing.

Hank set his own drink down and grabbed Connor by the front of his shirt, dragging the younger man into his arms to kiss him roughly.

Connor moaned into the kiss, surprised as he was. He was more than pleased that Hank felt so strongly towards him already. He reached up and draped his arms around the older man’s neck, giving into the kiss just as much as he got.

Hank made a satisfied noise against Connor’s lips. Fuck, Connor was hot, and damnit, he was supposed to have a bit more restraint than this. Like, wait until the second date before he found himself roughly groping Connor’s ass like he was now. His tongue ran along Connor’s lips inquisitively then pressed inside as they parted eagerly for him.

And then the doorbell rang.

“Oh!” Connor’s head shifted to look at the door and back to Hank. “Um, I’m guessing that’s dinner.” There was no mistaking the disappointment in his voice. He regretfully untangled himself from the other man.

Hank was seriously considering ignoring the doorbell, but then Connor was moving away and he wasn’t completely insane with sexual tension yet, so he reluctantly released the younger man. “We.. We will have to pick this conversation back up soon.” His breathing was a little too heavy and he had to take a second to regain his composure before he could even think of opening the door.

Even then he was sure that the slight bulge in his pants was more noticeable than he liked and his hair was a bit disheveled. “Thanks,” he muttered and shut the person out with a large tip.

Finally, he returned with the food to the coffee table and let out a frustrated sigh. “That was the most unhelpfully timed delivery I’ve ever received. Why can they not be that prompt when I’m just hungry?” He smiled ruefully at Connor.

“I think there’s a law about that or something,” Connor replied, dryly. It wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy what just happened but he did try to remind himself this was only their first date and it was probably a bad idea to get more physical than that yet. He squirmed slightly. Or so his mind said but his body wasn’t listening.

Hank snickered and let himself slide back down into the sofa. “The gentlemanly thing to do would be to suggest we eat…” But all he wanted to do was devour Connor. “You are _exceptionally_ distracting.”

Connor bit his lip. “I agree .. I mean .. you’re also quite distracting yourself. But since this is our first date, we should probably go a little slower, yes?”

Hank leaned in and stole a more polite kiss. “You’re very correct, whether or not my body agrees.” Which it didn’t, in the least. “Let’s eat, then. This place has great food.”

The younger man shot him a look that was both sympathetic and apologetic at the same time. “I understand but yes, let’s. I am actually pretty hungry.”

Ugh. At least Connor was going through the same frustration that he was. They both tidied themselves up and focused on actually eating. After a while Hank even lost track of how frustrated he was and let his attention return to asking Connor about books and crime. When they had finished eating and were sitting back on the sofa, Hank’s attention drifted curiously to the shelf of his books.

“You know, I meant to ask this earlier… but are you still reading my books or was that just a passing adolescent thing?”

Connor’s eyes shifted away. “No, I still read them. I just don’t run my asinine blog anymore.”

“Every time you bring it up, it makes me want to read it more.” he teased. “Hmm, it’s embarrassing to say it, actually… but I was going to ask if you want a copy signed or anything. I don’t usually get to meet people who appreciate them.”

“I would love a signed copy!” Connor said enthusiastically. He felt a little embarrassed at that. Did he always sound so annoyingly childish or was it only around Hank? He groaned inwardly at himself.

Hank blushed despite his attempt at remaining nonchalant about this whole thing. Connor’s enthusiasm made it worth it. “Great! Well then, maybe next time I can come to your place and I’ll sign whichever ones you want me to.”

“My place is kind of small but it would be nice to have you over sometime,” Connor answered. At least Hank was still interested even though the younger man wanted to take things somewhat slow. He just .. always jumped into these things too fast and it never ended well. It was better to wait.

“Small is nice. Big places like this get lonely. It’s why I got a dog in the first place.” He glanced over at the large lump of sleepy canine in the corner and shook his head. That and Cole wanted a pony for a couple months, so he got a St. Bernard and told him it was a pony.

“It is cozy.” Connor agreed. He absently glanced at his phone and frowned at the time. “I hate to say it but I should be going now. I have things to grade and lesson plans to go over. But thank you so much for dinner. I had a lovely time.”

Hank nodded reluctantly. “It is getting late. I should probably get back to work as well.” He walked Connor to the door and, before he could open it, he leaned in to kiss the younger man. “You’re very welcome. I hope we can get together again soon.” Which would be hard, because Monday started his week with Cole.

“Me too.” replied the younger man. He returned the kiss and went out into the cool night before he could ask Hank about staying over.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Four_

Sunday evenings always came too quickly. It didn’t matter whether he was picking Cole up or dropping him off. He always managed to get caught up in some scene and then suddenly his alarms were going off.

He had a set of three. The first one he always ignored.

The second one made him actually stop writing.

By the third he was usually out the door. There was a secret fourth alarm and it was a fucking dog whistle, because if he couldn’t get his head out of his fiction, then Sumo leaping on him always did. Thankfully, it usually went off in the car and he could swipe the thing off without a giant Saint Bernard drooling on him.

8PM and he was outside of Sue’s house. On time, every time, because damnit if he wasn’t going to fail the one consistently good thing in his life because of his personal issues. Driving Sue away had been an inevitability, but Cole actually made him pay attention to reality - to what actually mattered. When the door opened, there was a new guy there with Sue. Had he noticed the last one stop showing up? No, not really.

This one wasn’t as handsome as the last, but he looked nicer. Cole actually hugged him before running out the door to leap into Hank’s awaiting arms. “Hey Kiddo!” Hank announced cheerfully before grinning up at Sue and her plus one. “How’s it going, Sue?”

He usually got a variety pack of reactions from Sue’s boyfriends. Most were disapproval, occasionally he got jealousy, once he got actual laughter. That guy was gone pretty quick. The fact that he was so much older than she was seemed to bother them more than the fact that he existed, but they always hated the way they talked so casually. They’d parted on mutual terms and, while they couldn’t stand each other in private, they remained amiably good friends in public. It wasn’t hard talking to Sue when she had to keep some of her bitchiness in a box. Cole was the greatest silencer of the bitch in Sue and for that Hank would be eternally grateful to his little boy.

This guy looked disapproving, but he hid it quickly when Hank actually met his gaze. Whatever, the fact that Cole seemed to like him was all that mattered. 

They bantered casually about the week, about how Cole had been, the usual. Then he packed Cole up in the car and they were waving goodbye on their way back home. The display in the car read 8:40. Later than usual, but Cole had had a lot to say - mostly about the park, which he still seemed to believe was Sue’s brilliant idea. That was fine, again, so long as his Cole was happy.

The usual routine maintained itself all the way until bedtime when, as he was tucking the boy in, the usual request for a story never happened. 

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, Kiddo?” 

“Do you like Mr. Smith?”

He had expected the next words to be “Will you tell me a story” so much so that he was already saying “Of course” and then he realized what the boy had said. Did he… what? His mouth hung open for a moment. He shut his mouth, swallowed his horror, and then proceeded as if he’d meant to say that. Which, honestly, was true… “He’s a good teacher and you’re always telling me how smart he is.”

“You talked to him a _whole lot_ on the bus.” The kid sounded absolutely delighted by this statement. What was with him?

“Yeah, we did talk a lot. He likes my books, too.”

This caught Cole’s interest. Cole could not read Daddy’s Books but he was enamored by the idea of them. Hank was fairly certain the boy thought he was writing the tales of his own heroic adventures, but he didn’t have the heart to tell him that wasn’t the case.

“He does?! That’s great! I can’t wait till I’m old enough to read them too!”

Hank chuckled warmly. “Yeah. It’s nice to have another adult I can chat with.”

The boy yawned and sunk a little further into his pillows. “We all thought… it’d be a good idea… for you to ride with him.” He yawned again, slowly drifting off. “Princes like to be protected by Knights, right?” His eyes were closed, which was good because Hank was dying of shock and he didn’t have the strength to pretend he wasn’t. “I…” another huge yawn, “I hope it works again. I don’t want you to be lonely anymore.”

He’d dozed off and now Hank was left alone, staring wide-eyed at the sleeping child. What? WHAT?!

Hank stumbled out of the room in a daze. He had told Cole that. 

After about a million stories of Princes saving Princesses and the like, Cole had asked why they always fell in love in the end and Hank had awkwardly explained that Princesses liked to be protected and that they were always meant to find their Prince. This had not been a satisfactory answer for Cole.

“What if the Princess doesn’t want a Prince?”

“Some Princesses don’t.”

“Then why do all the stories say they do! That’s dumb!”

Six years old and he was enraged by gender roles in books. Hank would’ve been proud if he hadn’t also been terrified. He’d been too smart as a kid too and look where it had gotten him! He was practically an old hermit with a dog as his only long term companion. Even his son was just on loan to him in case he managed to fuck that up somehow.

When he didn’t give Cole an immediate answer, Cole persisted: “What about Knights who don’t want to be Princes?”

Hank watched his boy for a moment, uncertain of how to answer. “Some don’t want that either. I’ve never been much of a Prince.”

This had Cole grinning again. “No! You’re definitely a Knight!” He pretended to wave an imaginary sword. “You slay dragons and monsters in the closet and and —“ he trailed off, expression thoughtful. “Why did you marry a Princess then?”

Ah, this again. Was that what this was all about? “Because I was a young Knight and I didn’t know what I wanted. That’s okay too.”

“So you thought you wanted to be a Prince?”

“I did. Your mom wanted to be a Princess so badly, to be saved by her Knight and swept away into a castle… and I thought I wanted to be that Prince for her. It worked for a little bit.” He leaned down and kissed Cole on the nose. “And it gave me my greatest treasure in the whole world.”

“Da-aad!” The kid giggled and swatted at his father for the ‘gross display of affection’. “So you went back to being a Knight? Would you ever want to be a Prince again?”

“Hmm… Maybe, if I ever found a Prince or Princess that I wanted to protect.”

“Can Princes fall in love with Princes?”

“Oh yes, and there are many Princesses who love other Princesses.”

“But why aren’t there any bedtime stories like that?” 

Hank hesitated and then ruffled Cole’s hair. “How about this, from now on I’ll tell you _my_ bedtime stories. You can tell me which ones you like better.”

“Okay!”

So for the last year he’d told him stories about great Knights, of both genders, who loved Princes or Princesses. Tales of his own curious youth woven into mythical fantasies to lull his child into sleep… and Cole had adored them. One day he’d tell the kid his own experiences without the fairytale coating, but for now this was a good way to give his little boy a taste of the real world.

***

Toward the end of recess, Cole snuck away from his playmates and made his way over to his teacher. He may have been young, but he had an entire school career of watching his dad suck at talking to other dads to figure at least a few things out. The biggest thing he’d come to understand was that his dad was lonely. Mommy always had new boyfriends but Daddy never did. Not a boyfriend or a girlfriend or anything. He always said he was just happy to have Cole in his life. Cole wasn’t sure that was an actual answer or just the Adult answer.

So when he saw Daddy talking to Mr. Smith before the field trip, he knew Daddy had found himself a Prince he liked. Usually Daddy avoided the other parents or teachers and spent his time talking to Cole and his classmates. Once Daddy had even explained that a lot of adults found him ‘weird’, even though Cole couldn’t understand that in the slightest. He was the coolest dad and all his friends agreed, so why didn’t the other parents want to talk to him?

That wasn’t the mission today. Today the mission was finding out what Mr. Smith thought of his dad.

“Hi Mr. Smith!” The blonde-haired boy bounced on his heels, grinning up at the teacher. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, Cole, what’s up?” Connor questioned, curious as to why Cole had singled him out. They usually didn’t chat any more than he did with the other kids. Did Hank talk about him or something .. ?

“Do you like my dad?”

“Uh, yeah, I like him,” answered the teacher quickly, puzzled. “He’s very nice.”

Cole brightened, if that was possible with how he was already grinning. “Really!?” Then he paused, narrowing his eyes as if he suspected something. “Do you like-like him?” You had to be very specific with adults, they could be quite dense.

Connor’s face went red. A seven year old made him blush; that was a new low. He tried not to cringe. “Cole, I’m not sure it’s appropriate to ask me a question like that.”

Cole’s expression changed, eyes widening in surprise. This was clearly news to him. “It’s not?”

“No, that’s a little too personal to talk about with your teacher at school, okay?” Connor tried not to frown. He was literally trying to avoid conversation with a kid; but if any of it was overheard, it might be misconstrued and come back to bite him in the ass later.

Cole’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. Okay.”

“Go back to playing, recess is almost over.” he reminded Cole.

Cole couldn’t really understand where this had gone wrong. Why could Mr. Smith tell him he liked his dad but not answer whether he like-liked him? That was stupid! “Okay, Mr. Smith.” He sulked but ran off to play while he could.

Connor shook his head but smiled. That kid was far too intuitive for his age.

***

Collapsing into his sofa at home, Connor pulled out his phone. Hank and him couldn’t meet up this week because he had Cole, but they were still keeping in contact through text.

[So, guess what Cole asked me today at school?] 

Hank was in the middle of making dinner for Cole, but that ringtone was unmistakably the one he’d picked out for Connor. The sound made him smile and he reached over to grab the phone. The text made him snort.

[Please tell me he didn’t ask you if you wanted to be a prince.]

[No .. what?] Connor laughed, confused. Oh boy. [He asked if I ‘like-like’ you.]

[Oh wow… He only asked me if I like you. I can’t believe he went all the way to like-like with you… But he did admit to setting us up on the rollercoaster.] That picture was currently pinned to the board above his writing space. [Well, Connor - now I have to know - do you like-like me?] He smiled to himself as he set the phone back down.

[I would hope you know the answer to that already.] Connor replied, cheekily. [The rollercoaster thing did seem a bit contrived, didn’t it? I just thought the kids were excited to torment me.]

[Awh, but I wanted you to write it.] He glanced toward the living room where Cole was currently engrossed in the TV. [I think that was half of it — and he wanted me to ‘save’ you so that you’d fall in like-like with me.]

[That’s .. really cute, actually.] He smiled to himself and added a second text. [Alright, Hank. I like-like you. Are you happy?]

Hank grinned at the phone as the second text popped up. Fuck… He was really deep in this, wasn’t he? [Very happy.] [By the way, I like-like you too. ;3]

Connor snorted. He couldn’t believe two adults were seriously having this conversation, but he found it hilarious. [Does that mean you will be coming over to my place Monday night then?]

His heart thudded slightly but he grinned. [You know it.]


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the comments, I'm glad everyone is so excited for the fic. I also made a [fic moodboard](https://fucking-androids.tumblr.com/post/178090392107/knights-and-princes-e-ao3-link-i-realized-this) over on tumblr if you wanna check that out. ;D Enjoy the chapter, tee hee.

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Five_

Even knowing that Hank liked him and they’d already been on one date didn’t make Connor any less nervous. He checked himself over in the mirror again, anxiously brushing at his one unruly piece of hair. It immediately flipped back into place over his forehead. He sighed. At least it looked purposeful.

He walked around the house one last time and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Then he straightened the stack of books he’d gotten out for Hank that was sitting on the table. He tended to clean and organize things when he was anxious.

Finally, there was a knock at his door.

Hank was less anxious than he expected himself to be. Instead he was almost giddy at the thought of seeing Connor again. He’d spent the week pretending he wasn’t dying for Monday and it had been harder than he could’ve imagined. When Connor finally opened the door, Hank’s heart was pounding excitedly against his chest.

“Hey,” he offered casually.

“Hi,” answered Connor brightly. “Come in, it’s small but it’s home.” He ushered Hank over to the sofa, pleased that he could breathe a little easier now that the anticipation was over. “I have the books you asked me for on the coffee table here.”

Hank followed Connor inside, checking out the teacher’s apartment with curious intrigue. He was as neat and orderly as Hank expected of him. The older man settled onto the sofa and curiously picked up a book. Kept in good condition, but clearly well-read. It was the first time he’d found someone who enjoyed his writing and him as a person. It was strange, but it felt… good.

“Do you want me to sign first?” He set the bag he’d brought with him on the table and produced a few of the books they’d discussed. 

Connor blushed a little. He was so friendly with Hank now that it did escape him occasionally that’d he been reading the older man’s books since he was a teenager. “Um, yeah, well .. whichever is better for you.” He pointed to a smaller stack of books. “These are my favorites and my collector’s copies.”

Hank had such a weakness for Connor’s blush. Despite his promises to himself that he’d control his attraction to the other man, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You’re extremely cute.” He muttered as he pulled back. “I don’t know how I’m going to get used to that.”

Then he let his brain reprocess what he’d heard. Favorites and collector’s copies? “Look at you - I can’t believe you have these. I never believe them when they tell me they sell well.”

Both the comment and the kiss flustered Connor but he regained some sense when he heard Hank being disparaging about himself. “Of course they sell well, why wouldn’t they? Oh, that reminds me, I was always curious if you had any input on the typefaces or the cover art, by the way. They were always kind of poignant in relation to the story.” Was he rambling? Did he sound like a fanboy? Ugh ..

Connor’s questions derailed him from his self-depreciation. Oh, wait… Did his fans actually pay attention to that shit? Hank was shocked and delighted. Was that why authors actually bothered to meet with the people who read their work? Fuck. Or would it be overwhelming if it wasn’t Connor? He swallowed and then grinned. 

“I do, actually. They’re willing to do that sort of stuff for me but I like the added flair. So, yeah, I know the artist that does the covers and I’m a pain in the ass about the type setting. They call me a perfectionist for this shit but I’m glad it actually pays off.”

“I knew it!” Connor exclaimed, then covered his mouth. “I hope I’m not being too annoying. I know you don’t meet with fans much.”

Connor’s exclamation made Hank grin like an idiot. “No, you’re not being annoying.” He gently pulled Connor’s hands away from his mouth so that he couldn’t hide his excitement. “I’ve never actually met with a fan before, but you’re different too. I like seeing you excited like this.”

“I’m glad,” Connor smiled in relief, but his blush was back. He couldn’t deny there was a ridiculous amount of sexual tension between them and despite wanting to take things slow, he also wanted to feel Hank against him again. He blushed deeper and dropped his eyes. Why did his face have to give him away every time?

Hank bit his lip when Connor’s blush started spreading across his cheeks again. Fuck. Absently he reached out, wrapping an arm around Connor and dragging the younger man up against him. “I told you, I can’t handle it when you make that face.” He kissed him deeply, guiding Connor into his lap as he did. “We can still take it slow,” he muttered against his lips, “but I think I’ll explode if I don’t touch you right now.”

“I think so too,” agreed Connor breathlessly. He took the initiative this time and leaned back in to kiss Hank in return, his hands resting on the older man’s broad chest. The kisses grew more hungry as they continued and Connor rocked his hips forward, though not intentionally. 

There was no way he could help the boner that this gave him, but he hadn’t expected Connor to grind into him like that. His breath escaped him in a rush as he instinctively rolled his hips up to meet Connor. “Fuck,” he gasped as he dropped his hands to fall on Connor’s ass. “We should… stop…”

Propriety battled with want in Connor’s mind but he knew what was winning. “I don’t want to,” he admitted, a bit shamefully. He was the one that had insisted on slowness after all.

Hank shuddered slightly at that soft defiance. “Neither do I,” he confessed as he roughly groped Connor’s ass. “But are you sure?”

“Can we just see what happens? I’ll let you know if I want to stop,” he answered with a heavy breath, pressing back against Hank’s hand.

His chest was heaving, his heart pounding. He wanted this more than he’d wanted a lot of things in life. “I can do that.” As Connor pressed his ass into Hank’s grip, Hank rocked his hips up and ground against Connor’s ass.

“Ah—“ Connor moaned in surprise at the sudden movement, curling his hands into Hank’s shirt.

Hank let out a heavy breath as Connor moaned. This was not nearly so satisfying with clothes on, but it was a hell of a lot more satisfying than nothing. His hands lifted, sliding along Connor’s sides, and brushed through his hair. “I can’t get over how good you feel.” He rolled his hips again.

The younger man tried to stifle the next moan that came out of his mouth, embarrassed. His clothes felt tighter than ever as he pressed into Hank and he really wondered how far he’d let himself go. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he reached up to pull the older man’s hair out of it’s usual ponytail and finally got his wish to see the man with his hair down. He was, as suspected, even more gorgeous. Connor sighed happily to himself.

Hank paused briefly when he felt his hair tie get pulled loose. “Mm?” He asked as his hair fell around his face. He would’ve said something more but Connor’s sigh was more than enough reassurance that he liked what he saw. Carefully he wrapped a fist into the base of Connor’s hair, gently pulling to give himself access to Connor’s throat. His lips trailed over his throat, his adam’s apple, and down to his collarbone. He released Connor’s hair and instead shifted to pull Connor’s shirt down a little so that he could suck on a patch of skin just below his collarbone. A tiny possessive mark of purple-red lingered where his lips parted.

Soft noises spilled from Connor’s mouth as Hank explored his skin. When the older man pulled back, he touched his own neck curiously. “Did you leave a bruise?” he questioned, his fingertips finding the damp spot under his collarbone.

Hank grinned to himself. “Not where anyone could see.” He paused curiously as he peered up at the younger man. “Is that alright?”

“Yes … I like it,” he said, pushing into a little and feeling it pulse slightly.

How the fuck was he supposed to keep from jumping Connor’s bones? “Good,” he muttered softly as he rolled his hips up against Connor’s ass again. “I can leave more, if you’d like.”

“Mm, yes, please,” Connor unbuttoned the first couple buttons on his shirt to give Hank more access to his skin.

Hank made a rough noise in the back of his throat at Connor’s invitation. With his shirt open he had full access to let his lips trail over Connor’s chest, kissing in places and pausing in others to suck on the flesh. Even his skin tasted good. He pulled the younger man’s shirt down ever so slightly, enough to catch Connor’s nipple with his lips.

Connor squeaked out a surprised noise and his hand flew to his lips again. He couldn’t recall if he had ever been this noisy just making out with a guy before or not. All of Hank’s touches felt like fire running through his veins and the anticipation of where the older man would kiss next kept him on edge.

Such a sweet noise out of Connor. He couldn’t get over how fucking hot it was. He flicked his tongue over the younger man’s nipple, hoping to draw out even more sweet noises. When his lips pulled back, he blew softly to cool the damp spot with his breath. “Don’t,” he requested softly, “I want to hear you.”

“Okay,” he answered, letting his hand drop. It was honestly embarrassing but if Hank liked it, then he wanted the older man to be able to hear him.

Hank was so fucking hard, and something about Connor’s immediate acceptance of his embarrassing request made it even harder. He ground his hips up against the younger man and trailed hungry kisses over his smooth chest to find his other nipple. He nipped it very gently then sucked on the soft nub.

It’s not like Connor couldn’t tell how turned on the older man was and he was also getting more and more frustrated as they went on. “Hank,” he tried to say but it came out more like a moan. His fingers flew to rest on the man’s belt. “Should I help you?”

In his state it was very hard to ignore the very pressing urge for what he needed - wanted. His breath came out in a hot rush at the sensation of Connor’s fingers on his belt. “Connor,” he ground himself up against the younger man again. “What did you have in mind?”

“I thought maybe we could touch each other. Would that be okay with you?” Connor wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to have sex just yet but at least this way they’d both get some satisfaction out of it.

“Fuck yes,” he replied quickly. 

That wasn’t too much, right? Maybe this would get the overwhelming need out of their systems and let them think more rationally around each other. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice warned him that doing this might just have the opposite effect of what he wanted, but he couldn’t focus on that past the blood rushing to his groin.

Like kids given free range of a candy shop, they were out of their pants and falling onto each other once more. Immediately Hank slid his hand between them and let his fingers stroke along Connor’s cock; firm and slender, throbbing with need.

It was so hard to concentrate with Hank touching him but also .. Connor kind of stared as he grasped the older man’s length in his hand. It was impressive. He licked his lips and started stroking Hank as best he could with all the distractions.

“Nnn! Connor,” he groaned as he rocked his hips up against Connor’s touch. “Do you like what you see, hm?” He pumped the younger male’s cock before running his finger over the tip; Connor was already dripping with pre-come. “And you’re so worked up already,” he teased softly.

“How could I not be?” the younger man’s face was still red and he was breathing heavily. “And y-yes, I like what I see.” Connor tried moving his hand faster but kept the pace steady.

Hank leaned in and roughly kissed Connor as he continued to stroke him. They were both so worked up that he doubted either of them would last long now that they finally had their hands on each other. He shifted slightly, making it easier to press his erection against Connor’s, and when he rocked his hips up again he was rewarded with the sweet sensation of his dick brushing against Connor’s.

“Hank!” Connor moaned purposefully this time, eagerly pressing against the older man. Their kisses were sloppy and hungry, and the younger man was finding it harder and harder to keep up his end of the bargain. “I’m close,” he gasped out.

The feeling of Connor’s fingers stuttering along his cock as he lost concentration was actually really sexy. He gently caught Connor’s lower lip between his teeth and sucked on the flesh. “Come for me, Connor.” As he spoke he slid his hand under Connor’s and wrapped his much larger hand around both of them. When he rocked his hips again they were moving in unison, following the smooth rhythm of Hank’s hips and the motion of his hand. “I _need_ to hear you.”

“Hank, please,” Connor cried out, unable to silence himself even if he wanted to. “Fuck, nnn—“ he gasped again and finally came, shuddering as he kept moving against the older man’s hand.

Connor grinding against him as he came, his come splattering Hank’s hand and stomach, the sticky fluid dripping against his leg. It was all too fucking much. He came, hips bucking as he pressed himself against Connor. “Haa —“ He panted in the wake of his orgasm, his head practically floating after finally breaking that torturous tension. He absently gave them both a final stroke before he stopped himself. “You’re so damn sexy, Con.”

The younger man let out a breathless, embarrassed laugh. “And you’re not?” he teased. “I’m sorry that was so quick. I guess that’s what I get for waiting so long.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead against Hank’s shoulder.

Hank shook his head. “Nah, that was fine. I haven’t been that worked up in ages, I doubt I could’ve lasted any longer.” He laid an arm loosely around Connor’s waist, holding the younger man against him, and kissed his temple softly.

Connor was quiet for a moment before adding, “Thanks again for taking it slow with me. I appreciate it.”

Hank was slumped against the couch and tracing tender circles on Connor’s lower back as he worked to calm his hammering heart. Connor’s words gave him a moment to pause before his eyes fluttered open and he found Connor’s lips again. “Of course. I wouldn’t want to rush you… I really do like you a lot.”

The younger man smiled, obviously touched by that but then it faded to a smirk. “Like-like me?” he questioned.

Hank burst into a bark of laughter, doubling over to press his forehead to Connor’s shoulder. “Oh fuck, Con.” He couldn’t stop laughing. “Yes. I really like-like you.”

Connor joined him in laughing. “Good, that’s all I need to know then.” He leaned forward to kiss Hank, a smile still on his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all sosososos much for your comments! My Hank and I love hearing your feedback and it encourages us to keep writing more stories for you all. (:

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Six_

Months rolled by faster than they ever had for Connor. Every week or weekend, Hank and him were discussing books and true crime and Hank was, unfortunately, still trying to find his blog. It was almost becoming a competition between them. One weekend, they even took Cole out together. The child was absolutely ecstatic about spending time with two of his favorite people. He talked a lot about fantasy stories, which seemed to make Hank frustrated and puzzled Connor, but they all had fun.

The pair had also gone on a few dates and things were getting pretty serious, but they were still taking things slow, sexually at least. Connor was apprehensive because of his last relationship. It had pretty much all gone down in flames and he tended to try to avoid thinking about it. 

Was there a saying about that or something? Speak of the devil and he will appear? That was exactly what was on Connor’s mind the minute he heard a familiar voice call to him.

It was the last week of December, after Christmas. Hank was busy with Cole and also a book deadline, so they hadn’t gotten to spend much time together, but that was fine. Connor had a lot of things to prepare for the new year anyway. He’d gone out to a local coffee shop to get a peppermint coffee since that was one of his favorite things about the season but there was instant regret almost the moment he stepped inside the shop.

“Connor?” 

His heart stopped, he was sure of it. He turned slowly. Of course Elijah was standing there.

“Oh, it _is_ you, Connor, I thought I recognized you. What are you doing here?” the man asked cheerfully, walking up to him.

“I live near here.” Connor answered, almost robotically. Shit, that was a bad answer. Oh well, he probably already knew. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here. “Why are you here, Elijah?”

“Aw, Connor, don’t be like that. I haven’t seen you in three years. Everything’s just water under the bridge, right?” Elijah laughed and Connor could still hear the hollow sound in it.

“Sure.” Connor replied, flatly. “That doesn’t tell me why you’re here.”

“I figured you were free and I was in the area so I just thought, you know, maybe we could catch up.”

A familiar feeling of doubt crept up on Connor. Maybe Elijah had changed? He probably just wanted to chat for awhile. They could both get some closure and put this whole nasty thing behind them. Another part of him recoiled from the thought of being alone with him again. He warred with himself internally.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” he replied, looking torn. He was very much aware of the eyes on him and that people in the community knew him well though. Sighing, he knew no matter what, this conversation needed to be taken somewhere more private. Elijah wasn’t above spilling all his secrets in a public place. “Wait, fine. Are you staying at a hotel or something?”

“Yeah, really close by. C’mon, we can walk there.” Elijah threw an arm easily over Connor’s shoulders and started guiding him out of the door and back into the bitter cold. Connor hadn’t even gotten a chance to take off his jacket before his ex-boyfriend had accosted him.

 

Between the stress of the holidays, the forced socialization, the never-ending crowds, and the New Years deadline, Hank was practically running on zombified auto-pilot. He had just enough energy to look like he wasn’t about to explode in front of Cole and a bit left over to keep in touch with Connor via text; everything else was falling by the wayside. At some point he had finished a chapter and realized, much to his confusion, that the morning had somehow morphed into afternoon. Sumo was whining and his stomach was growling along with his head. Damn. He needed fresh air.

The cold would clear his head, and he could go to the local coffee shop and get himself something sugary and caffeinated. That would get him back in the game and then he could finish writing.

No problem. Everything was great.

He yawned as he walked, half-numb in the cold until he saw something from the corner of his eye that caused him to pause. “Connor?” The wind swept his voice away, which was fine because when he turned he saw that yes, it was Connor, but there was someone else too. A man about Connor’s age had his arm thrown around Connor’s shoulders and they were walking together. The other man was laughing, bright-eyed, handsome.

Hank felt colder than the winter day should’ve made him.

He should have seen this coming, it was only natural. Connor was a young, attractive man and he was an old, part-time dad. At his side, Sumo chuffed happily and Hank turned sharply on his heel as he hurried away from the scene before Sumo could start barking in excitement at the sight of Connor.

 

Elijah let Connor into his hotel room, talking a mile a minute, which Connor was mostly tuning out. He was going on and on about his computer company. Connor stood stiffly in the entryway after the door swung shut.

“Connor, please. Don’t be like this. Just c’mon, sit down. We’ll talk like we used to.” his ex finally said when he turned around and found Connor had turned into a statue by the door. “At least take your jacket off.” Elijah pleaded with his eyes.

Peeling off his jacket and scarf, Connor sighed deeply and took a seat in the room. “Happy?”

Elijah finally frowned. “I’d be happier if you stopped acting like a twat, Con.”

“I can leave if you’re going to insult me.”

“No, no. I just mean, if you didn’t treat me like this, we wouldn’t have any problems, you know?”

Connor was silent.

“Right, so I guess I’ll cut the small talk. I came because I can’t get ahold of you any other way, and I just thought maybe we could talk everything out. Put the past behind us.” Elijah shook his head, his voice simply ringing with sincerity. “If you hadn’t blocked me on all your social media, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Meaning you weren’t just here by accident then.” Connor murmured.

“Nah, came all this way to see you, sweetie.”

“Don’t, okay?”

“Don’t what?”

“With the nicknames .. just don’t. Tell me what you want to tell me.”

“I want to make up and be friends again. I’ve missed you so much.”

“We can try to talk things out but I don’t know about friends ..”

Elijah just looked frustrated and huffed.

“What?”

“I fucking flew out here just to see you and you don’t even want to put in a little effort? We dated for a year and half, Connor. That’s not something you can sweep under a rug and forget about.”

“I’ve moved on. I think you should too. It’s been over.” Connor felt guilty despite the fact that he no longer had any interest in Elijah and his experience with their relationship was still affecting his current one. It was just something the other man was good at, he guessed.

“Moved on? So you’re fucking someone else now, huh? I should’ve known.”

“That’s really none of your business. We’re not even friends, you don’t need to know that.” It had been such a mistake coming here. How did Elijah always talk him into these things? It didn’t help that the other man had too much of his private info to hang over his head.

“Does the new guy know all your gross little kinks too?” Elijah continued as if reading his mind.

“Stop it. I’m done.” Connor picked up his jacket and stood up but the other man grabbed his shoulder and held him back.

“I’m not ready for you to leave, Connor. Please, I’m sorry, I just got mad. You just mean so much to me that I just lose control sometimes.” his ex was begging. 

But Connor had heard this all before. “You don’t mean any of this, Elijah. I’m not dumb and naive anymore. I know what you’re really like. I shouldn’t have even given you a chance to explain. You should leave town before I have to go to the police about this.”

"Alright. Whatever you say .. but you probably shouldn’t leave without this, Connor,” Elijah said, his voice smug. Connor turned and found that the other man had at some point stolen his cell phone from his jacket pocket. He unlocked it and started scrolling through the text messages. “Ah, so some guy named Hank is who you’re with now. Great. I can just give him a call and tell him all your dirty secrets.”

Connor felt frozen in place. This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen. He thought Elijah had no power over him any more. As usual, he was wrong. “Don’t, please, Elijah. Just give me back my phone.”

“Oops, I hit the dial button.” The phone rang only twice before Hank picked up.

“Connor?” Hank’s voice was tinged with concern and Connor noticed though he doubted Elijah would, exhaustion. “What’s up?”

“Hank—“ Connor tried to talk before Elijah but it didn’t work.

“Hey, Connor was telling me all about how he’s banging you now. So I thought I should be a gentleman and give you some information. Because he’s not telling you everything.” Elijah spoke over him easily.

Connor wanted to stop him, or punch him, or grab his phone back but instead he remained rooted to the floor, nausea sweeping through him. If Elijah couldn’t have him, he’d figure out some way to ruin what Connor did have.

Hank nearly dropped his phone when another voice answered instead of Connor. His mind immediately flashed back to the handsome man he’d seen with Connor earlier and he grit his teeth. They weren’t even ‘banging’ yet, so what was this fucker on about? “Connor’s not hiding anything from me. Shut up and tell him to talk to me himself.”

“Fine. Makes no difference to me. It’s on speakerphone. Go ahead Connor. Tell him.”

“Tell him what?” Connor asked automatically.

“Don’t play dumb, Connor! All the gross stuff you made me do to you in college. You were there, I’m sure you remember how you _begged_ for it.” Elijah smirked, clutching the phone tightly in his palm.

Hank hesitated and then spoke up with a growl. “Connor, where are you? I’m coming to get you.”

There was silence and then all Hank could hear was the other man yelling for a moment and Connor finally spoke. “I’ll be outside of that coffee shop we both like, okay?”

Hank had tensed up when he heard yelling but he relaxed the moment Connor spoke again. “Okay. I’ll be right there. Do you need me to stay on the phone with you?”

“No, I’ll call back if I need you.” His voice sounded strained, like maybe he was running. He hung up.

Hank frowned at the phone, but he didn’t pause to dwell on it. He hopped in the car out front and sped as safely as he could to the coffee shop, heart in his throat the whole time. What the fuck was going on?

 

Connor made it all the way to the coffee shop before the adrenaline in his system from punching Elijah in the face wore off. Still panting, he turned and vomited into a, thankfully, nearby trashcan. Feeling weak after that, he slithered down beside it onto the curb. He absently noted that snow started falling. No wonder it had been so cold. He wiped his mouth on his coat sleeve and leaned against the trashcan for support.

 

Hank got there as quickly as he could, especially with the snow starting to come down. What he found when he pulled up was Connor sitting on the ground next to a trashcan, in the snow. The sight made his blood boil. He could’ve kicked himself for walking away without saying anything.

He rolled down the window. “Hey Con, get in.”

Shakily getting to his feet, Connor slid into the passenger side of the car. “Thanks for coming.” he stared down at his hands after he put his seat belt on.

Hank’s brows furrowed and he leaned over to touch Connor’s cheek. “Connor, are you alright? What happened?”

“Well, my ex-boyfriend is a stalker, I guess. Imagine that.” Connor tried to use humor to deal with how horrible he felt. It wasn’t helping too much.

Hank let out a heavy breath. “Did he hurt you?”

“Physically, no. I hurt him though.” the younger man laughed weakly.

“Thank god… and that was what I heard?” He sighed with relief. “Good boy.” Hank finally let his hand fall from Connor’s cheek as the younger man nodded. “Now, two less important questions: while I’m here, do you want one of those peppermint coffees you love? And do you want to go to my place or yours?” He paused. “That sounded perverted, but I meant it literally.”

Connor managed a small laugh again. “I just puked so yeah, actually I’d love a peppermint coffee. The mint might soothe my stomach and get this gross taste out of my mouth. And I’d like to go to your place, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He parked the car and leaned in to kiss Connor gently on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

The older man slipped out into the cold afternoon and hurried inside the coffee shop. He returned shortly with two coffees and slipped back into the car. “Here you are,” he handed the drink to Connor and set his own in the cup holder. “You don’t have to say anything right now if you’re not ready to, okay?” One of the bonuses of reading and writing a lot about crime and horror was that you somehow learned a great deal about trauma and how to deal with it.

“Okay,” Connor answered, and focused on trying to figure out when his coffee would be cool enough to sip. His stomach churned unhappily so he took a quick burning gulp of it to wash out his mouth and silence his stomach. The ride was fairly quiet back. Connor clutched his coffee and watched as the town slowly became more snow covered.

Hank was grateful when they arrived back at his place. The snow was still falling and it didn’t seem to be letting up, but it wasn’t impacting driving any yet. He let Connor inside and took his jacket before he was immediately greeted by Sumo. The big oaf had probably missed him an awful lot during these last busy weeks. Hank certainly had.

Connor got down and hugged Sumo longer than he usually would have. He let up before his shoulder could get drooled on too much though. He was still patting Sumo’s head when he spoke. “I understand if you need to write. We can talk later.”

Hank lingered by the coat rack, just watching Connor with Sumo, until Connor’s comment caught him off guard. “Fuck my writing, we’re talking now. This is way more important. _You’re_ way more important.” He pulled Connor into his arms, hugging him. “I’ve missed you and this…” He pressed his forehead to Connor’s trying to find the right words to express what he felt. Guilt, mostly. “I saw you walking with some guy and I didn’t say anything… I should’ve checked on you but I didn’t want…” He pressed his lips together and frowned deeply. “I didn’t want to seem like a jealous idiot.”

Connor blinked. “You saw us? That must have looked bad. I can’t blame you really.” He felt guilty even though he knew logically he had done nothing wrong. Hank still should never have seen that. He shouldn’t have gone with Elijah in the first place.

Hank didn’t know what to do. None of this was right.

“It looked like some guy hitting on you… and I was too much of a coward to find out what was really going on.” He looked away for a moment, before motioning Connor to the sofa and grabbing the coffees from the table near the door. “Just… tell me what happened. Starting with who this stalker is.”

Connor kicked off his wet shoes by the door and took his usual place on Hank’s sofa with his feet tucked up under him and tried to look at the events as if they happened to someone else. That made it easier to talk about. He waited until Hank sat down with the coffees to begin.

“In college, I met this guy who was in computer sciences. And he seemed nice and he really liked me. So we dated for about a year and a half. That was Elijah, who you saw me with. And heard on the phone.” Connor cringed, took a sip of his coffee to calm down and continued again. “Our relationship started out okay but then it got .. weird? I don’t know how to describe it. He’s literally never hit me or anything so I guess that’s why I thought it was okay to talk to him today.” He took a breath. He was getting ahead of himself again.

Hank just listened. It seemed normal enough, but normal enough relationships don’t do what just happened today. “He doesn’t have to hit you to be a piece of shit. I’ve read _a lot_ of police reports, I know the fucked up shit people can do without so much as touching someone.” He muttered lowly. “Do you mind me asking what he did do?”

“I mean, I might have imagined half the stuff, I’m not sure. First we started just hanging out but then somehow he was my boyfriend and we were having sex within a week. Then my friends stopped talking to me because they didn’t like him. Elijah always told me they secretly hated me behind my back. They thought I was strange and not fun enough or something. And at first Elijah was always bringing me presents and telling me how perfect I was but eventually .. “ Connor sighed, realizing his perspective on the events were probably skewed because of Elijah’s strange brainwashing ability. “Eventually, I couldn’t do anything right and he was always mad.”

Everything Connor said made Hank’s heart ache. “No, you didn’t imagine it. You were never the problem.” He couldn’t focus on his coffee, he needed Connor. The older man opened his arms invitingly and Connor slipped into them. “I’m so sorry you went through that. I’ve seen friends go through it before, they drive everyone else away so that you can only see them through the lens they’ve shown you..”

Connor curled up in Hank’s arms. It felt safer here. “I see. I guess I should have realized that. I almost failed a lot of classes because of him. One day, I just was done with the constant ups and downs. To him, one week I was perfect and the next I was nothing. He wouldn’t leave me alone even after I finished college. This is the first time since then he’s come in person though.”

Hank shook his head. “Everyone should’ve done a lot of shit. What I’m saying is it’s not your fault. Any of it.” He held Connor close. “Promise me you won’t talk to him again? Anyone who talks to you like he did on the phone is trash and doesn’t deserve your time.” He kissed Connor’s forehead and let his arms slide down to rest on the small of the younger man’s back.

Ah, the phone call. He’d been avoiding thinking about how awful that whole thing had been. “I don’t want to talk to him again either.” he said, but he shut his eyes and pressed his face into Hank’s shoulder. He knew everything Elijah had told him must be manipulations and lies .. but it still scared him.

Hank hugged him tightly, hesitant on what he wanted to say next. For a few moments he just sat there with him, holding him and basking in his warmth, but finally he said what had been nagging him since he’d first gotten the call. “What he said, about the stuff you two did in college… That’s not why you called yourself unwholesome when we first met, is it?”

“Yes.” Connor replied, not lifting his head up. “Elijah told me I was disgusting. But he did it anyway. And then later he’d mock me about it.” If he told Hank, would he also find it disgusting? A pang of pain wrenched through his heart.

For a moment Hank just saw red. He clenched his teeth and made a noise in the back of his throat. He couldn’t tell if he was furious or worried or… no, he was just furious. How dare someone hurt Connor, let alone in such an intimate way. It wasn’t fair to Connor. “I’m sorry, Con.” He finally leaned back, just enough to see Connor’s face. “I want you to know something, and it’s more important than anything else we’ve talked about today, okay?” He lifted his hands, cupping Connor’s cheeks so the younger man couldn’t escape him. “There isn’t a single thing he could’ve said on that call that would’ve disgusted me. Not a single thing.”

Connor’s eyes filled with tears, which frustrated him, but he looked up into Hank’s face and searched his expression. “Really?” he breathed out.

Hank winced when tears filled Connor’s eyes. He hated this man for making Connor hurt like this. “Really.” He leaned in and kissed Connor gently. When he pulled back, he smiled softly. “You’ve been reading my writing since you were a teenager. You know I’m not exactly ‘wholesome’ myself.”

The younger man laughed softly. “That’s different.” he insisted.

At least he was laughing, that was good. “Doesn’t change the fact of the matter. What you like in bed is your business, and it won’t change how I feel about you an ounce.” He glanced away, smirking slightly. “Though, uhh, if you’re up for it, you could always try me? I’ve been curious about it since you first told me this polite teacher look was covering up some kinky minx.”

Connor breathed out heavily. “I think I can tell you. I’m pretty sure Elijah was just screwing with me this whole time anyway.” He paused and hid his face again. “I used to uh .. have him tie me up and uhm .. come on me?” His throat felt tight and he blushed.

“That’s.. all?” He looked confused and surprised for a moment and then his expression tightened and he grit his teeth. “Stupid bastard, he’s got you all twisted up over something so small.” He kissed Connor’s forehead softly. “There’s nothing weird about you, Con. Not a damn thing. As far as kinks go, that’s gentle. You should meet this guy I know at the DPD… Now he’s got issues.”

“I .. I just feel stupid for believing him for so long ..” Connor was relieved but also overwhelmed with the feeling of having finally told someone. The tears finally spilled over and he wasn’t even sure why he was crying.

Hank felt like someone was cutting him apart every time Connor cried. It hurt to see this usually happy individual in so much pain. It made him want to beat the snot out of Elijah. “You’re not stupid. You were manipulated, abused. None of that is on you, and you’re young still. You’ve got a lot of time left to experiment with this sort of stuff.”

“Okay,” the younger man agreed through his tears. But even Hank’s reassurances couldn’t calm him. He buried his face in Hank’s shirt and let himself cry. Maybe he’d needed to do this for a long time and he hadn’t let himself. At least he wasn’t alone.

Hank just held him and let him cry, there was nothing else he could do. Eventually he shifted slightly, pulling Connor up into his lap and laying down with him. All the while he stroked his back and whispered occasional words of reassurance, waiting for Connor to relax again. As much as it hurt to have Connor cry, he knew it was important.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your support and comments!!!!!

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Seven_

At some point Hank must’ve dozed off, because he woke suddenly when his phone began to beep urgently at him. He groaned a little and leaned forward, picking up the phone from the coffee table while holding Connor against him. “Winter weather advisory?” He turned and looked out the window and… oh… well fuck. “A blizzard… We’re going to be stuck inside for a bit.”

Connor yawned and his eyes felt swollen. He rubbed at one. “At least I’m stuck here with you,” he said, his voice sleepy and cracking a little. He cleared his throat. “I’m also really thirsty.”

Hank smiled at Connor’s response. “I couldn’t have asked for better company myself.” He reluctantly eased Connor onto the sofa and slipped to his feet. “Let me get you some water.” He returned a moment later with a glass and rejoined Connor on the sofa. “Are you feeling any better?”

Before speaking, Connor drank about half the water in the glass. “Yeah, except my eyes kind of hurt. Oh and sorry about crying all over your shirt.”

Hank laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Tears dry, I was much more worried about you.” He tilted his head toward the bathroom. “You can take a shower if you’d like.”

“That would probably be good.” Connor finished the water and set the glass down. “I remember where the towels are. I’ll be back in a little.” He left to hop in the shower and didn’t let himself think about anything until he was under the warm spray of water. It did feel good, especially because now he felt so achingly cold. He let the water run over him and warm him up. 

He reflected on the day and still found it a little overwhelming. He knew Elijah had been a terrible boyfriend but he hadn’t known to frame his behavior as ‘abuse’ until Hank pointed it out. It would take awhile to adjust to all the changes, he knew that. But he felt good about it. At least for once he had someone by his side that was understanding. As he focused on washing his hair next, he decided he hoped that he’d broken Elijah’s nose with that punch.

While Connor had gone to the shower, Hank had finally returned to his room to write again. His head felt clearer after a nap and his inspiration felt less maddeningly dry; words flowed again. When he heard the shower cut off, he started wrapping up what he was writing, and when the door opened he hit the save button. “I’m in here, Connor.”

Then he realized that Connor had never actually been inside his bedroom. Sue had once called it his man cave because it was the only place in his house that he hadn’t bothered to Cole-proof. Hank typically just called it his office, because that was ultimately what it was. He wrote more than he slept there. 

Still, it had his not so kid friendly stuff stashed inside. Old heavy metal posters on the wall, a shelf full of thick medical journals and assorted clippings of police reports accompanied by a highly impressive conspiracy theory board complete with multi-colored string that, if Connor looked at it, detailed the relationships between characters from his series and how they connected. Directly over where he was working was a cork board containing important reminders, and an impressively large collection of photos. (Most of which were of Connor as the photos of Cole unabashedly dominated the rest of the house.)

Hank was sitting at his desk with his hair tied back and his glasses on, typing away at his computer. He hated to admit that it was a little awkward to finally let Connor inside, but it was only fair. He’d learned more about Connor today than he ever had before. Connor deserved to know more about him in return.

“Make yourself comfortable, I’m just wrapping this bit up.” He motioned toward the bed.

“Hank, would you mind if I borrowed an old t-shirt? I don’t really want to put my other clothes back on again.” Connor asked, still glancing around the room in interest. His eyes fell on the board that contained his pictures and he blushed slightly, feeling flattered.

Hank hadn’t looked away from what he was typing, or stopped typing for that matter.. until Connor mentioned something about putting his clothes back on. He turned to see Connor in nothing but his boxers and his mouth went dry for a second until he could remember how to talk. He’d seen Connor naked plenty of times, so why did it always make him want to jump him? “Right, yeah.. Of course.” He motioned to the dresser. “Help yourself.” He turned away again, focusing on his work and not the burning desire to do lewd things to his boyfriend. 

Sliding open a drawer, Connor found a stack of poorly folded t-shirts. He picked one off the top and it had some band logo on it he’d never seen before. He pulled the t-shirt on over his head and closed the drawer again. Still looking around curiously, he took a seat on the bed, but a strip of fabric hanging off the edge caught his eye. He picked it up and pulled it closer. He stared at it for a moment and then laughed. “I guess I really can take your word for it that Elijah has been lying to me this whole time,” he commented.

Hank made a soft noise of confusion. “Huh?” He spun his chair around and turned to see what Connor had found. Oh. Oh! He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I completely forgot those were there, actually. It was such a pain in the ass to get them on that I never bothered to take them off.” He turned back to the laptop, clicked save, and shut it. There was no way he was focusing on writing when he was looking at Connor in his old t-shirt and toying with his restraints. “We can try them sometime, if you’re ever interested.”

“I’d be interested,” Connor said quietly. He debated something mentally for a few moments and decided there was no better time. “Hank… I think… I mean, I want you to…” He looked up at the older man hopelessly for a minute. “I want you to fuck me.”

Hank felt the heat rise in his face as Connor sputtered. Fuck. His mouth was dry, his heart pounding. He didn’t even know how to properly respond to that, so he slipped onto the bed and kissed him roughly. “Thank god,” he muttered against Connor’s lips, “because I was going to have an extremely hard time controlling myself after seeing you like this. Wearing nothing but my t-shirt and boxers…” He slid his hand down between Connor’s legs and cupped his cock through his boxers. “You’re irresistible.”

Connor moaned but he held Hank’s gaze. “I’m sorry I made you wait so long .. but now you know everything so .. there’s nothing for me to hide anymore after today. And .. I want you. I want to do this with you.” He pressed fiercely into another kiss.

“Don’t apologize. I would’ve waited as long as you needed. Besides, I never had to worry about how you felt about me; we could never keep our hands off of each other.” He chuckled before leaning in to another kiss. “So the important question is do you want the restraints now or later? Because it’s not supposed to stop snowing for a _long_ while.” As he spoke he continued to knead Connor through his shorts, delighting in the sensation of the younger man growing harder at his touch.

“Later .. right now, I just want to feel you,” Connor bit his lip, and started sliding down his boxers in invitation. He’d already waited two months as well. He was ready now that he’d gotten over some of his mental hurdles. He knew he was safe here.

Hank shuddered a little, his body painfully eager and Connor was so inviting. “You want me to get a condom? I should have some..”

Connor was quiet for a moment before he grabbed onto Hank’s shirt. “No… I just want to feel _you_.”

Hank inhaled sharply and nodded. “Okay.” He leaned over to the nightstand, rifling around to find the bottle of lube he’d tucked in there. He coated his fingers in the cool substance. “On your back for me,” when Connor obeyed, Hank slipped between the younger man’s thighs and pressed a finger into his ass. “Very good.”

Connor moaned as he rolled his hips down, pressing into the feeling of Hank’s finger pushing inside of him. His hands were so much broader than Connor’s own, stretched him so much wider. “H-Hank…” Connor breathed his name out and was rewarded with a second finger stretching him open even wider.

Hank was going to take this nice and slow, to savor every inch of Connor’s body.

Shivering slightly, Connor tried to grind down against Hank’s fingers, to push them in deeper. He hadn’t had anyone inside of him in such a long time. “More?”

“I want to hear you, Connor,” he reminded him, “don’t hold back.” As he spoke he pressed a third finger inside of him and slowly thrust deep into Connor’s ass. He pumped those steadily in and out of him, feeling Connor’s body tense and relax around his fingers as he acclimated to the girth stretching him open. 

“O-okay,” the younger man said, but even as he was agreeing, Hank was starting to move his fingers and he couldn’t help the sounds that poured from his mouth. He writhed and moaned, rocking against the fingers inside of him eagerly.

So eager and so fucking sexy. He couldn’t take his eyes off Connor as Connor fucked himself on his fingers. He shifted his fingers and thrust them up in time with Connor’s rocking in order to massage them into the younger man’s prostate.

Connor’s fingers curled into the blankets underneath him as Hank found the right spot. “Fuck, oh, fuck, Hank,” he cried out, his legs shaking ever so slightly as he tried to press down hard against the older man’s hand.

Hank’s breath hitched as Connor cried out. That’s what he was looking for. “Good boy, Con.” He praised, fucking him harder with his fingers. “Tell me when you need more, when you need my cock in your ass.”

“I need it now, please, Hank,” begged the younger man.

“What do you need, Con?”

“Fuck,” he hissed out through his teeth. “I need your cock in my ass, please, please,” he begged even harder; the fingers weren’t nearly enough.

That was what he wanted, the begging. The way Connor had pleaded with him not to find his blog, those doe-eyes, the flushed face. It had made him so unbelievably horny and he’d been dying to see that expression staring at him from his bed ever since. “Very good, Con.” He slipped his fingers free and began taking off his clothes.

Connor squirmed as he waited, biting his lip at the sight of Hank stripping for him, and then slipped off the older man’s t-shirt. He added it to the pile of their clothes on the floor. When he looked back, Hank was stroking himself, coating his cock with lube. “Ready?” Hank asked and Connor laid back, legs spread invitingly as he nodded.

Slowly, giving him time to acclimate to it, Hank filled Connor all the way up with his cock. “Fuck,” he shuddered as Connor’s ass ground down into his lap. “You’re so fucking tight still.” He moved slightly, loving how Connor’s body clenched around him at the movement.

Squirming against the bed, Connor’s head fell back as his body tried to stretch even more to take in Hank completely. “God, you’re big,” the younger man breathed out. He didn’t think he’d ever felt this full before. “You feel so good,” he moaned, his hands reaching up to find Hank so he could touch him.

Hank leaned down as Connor reached up for him, moaning sweetly for him, and wrapped his arms around him. “Are you ready for me to fuck you, Con? I’m not sure how much patience I have left..” He rocked gently against Connor, grinding himself even deeper inside the younger man.

“Yes, please fuck me, Hank, please come inside me.” The words came from him almost unbidden. He could be himself in the bedroom again; it was always safe to ask Hank for what he really wanted. Hank wouldn’t hurt him for it afterward.

Hank held Connor to him even tighter. “Good boy,” he moaned against Connor’s ear as he began to move inside of him at last. He was cautious at first, making sure Connor could handle him, but his pace grew steadily harder and rougher the more Connor moaned and pleaded for him.

“Nnn — oh, there, _there_ ,” the younger man practically sobbed as Hank found his prostate again. He moved with Hank fluidly, his pleasure building as the older man fucked him hard. Connor didn’t think sex with Elijah had ever been as good as this.

Hank moaned low in his throat as Connor sobbed with need. “You’re so fucking hot, Connor.” He groaned as he slammed into his prostate over and over again, giving the younger man just what he wanted. As he did, his lips trailed kisses over Connor’s chest before pausing to leave a lovely little hickey beneath his left collarbone. “Mine,” he whispered possessively, holding Connor even tighter in his arms.

A shudder ran through Connor at that whisper and he knew how badly he wanted to belong to Hank in that moment. “Make me yours,” he insisted fiercely through his teeth.

Hank grinned against Connor’s skin before pulling back to look down on him with heavy blue eyes. “Haven’t I already?” He released Connor so that the younger man had fallen back into the pillows and then he shifted to clutch his hips. His fingers pressed hard, hard enough to leave bruises, as he dragged Connor up against him. “But I can make sure you know how completely you belong to me.” On the word ‘belong’ he slammed into Connor and from there his pace was rough, domineering, and possessive.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” the words spilled out of Connor’s mouth rapidly. His hands grasped uselessly at the sheets and his back arched. “No, I’m so close —“ Connor’s words choked off as Hank’s hand wrapped around his cock and squeezed. There was an instant pressure and his mind reeled as Hank stopped his rough pace almost entirely. “Huh!?”

“Not yet, Con. I’m not done with you yet.”

Connor moaned and his cock twitched in the older man’s hand. “Hank, please,” he begged. “Let me come.”

Hank had to fight to keep his hips still, to keep from absolutely fucking this gorgeous man into the bed. He let himself move slowly, let Connor feel him inside, but he kept every movement controlled. “Beg for it, then. Let me hear how badly you want it.” A harder thrust this time, encouragement.

The younger man ground his hips desperately down against Hank’s movements, writhing against the bed. “Oh, god, please, I need it, Hank, please let me come, _please_.” he pleaded even harder, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Fuck, he’d never thought he’d love the sight of Connor crying for him like that. His dick twitched inside of Connor, his whole body shuddering as his breath ripped through his chest. “Fuck, Con.” He breathed as his hand released Connor’s cock and found it’s way back to his hip. He pressed his thumb into the bruises that were already appearing from where he’d gripped Connor just moments earlier. “I want you to hold it for as long as you can, don’t come until I’ve come inside of you. Do you understand?” He massaged the bruise as he waited for his answer, loving the feel of Connor beneath him; so lean and perfect and _his_.

“Yes, yes,” Connor choked out, clenching his hands into fists in the sheets. When Hank pressed into the bruises they pulsed in a hot, pleasurable way. The older man would make sure that even when they were apart, he would know who he belonged to. He rocked his hips towards Hank again. “Fuck me.” he moaned.

Hank smiled down at the younger man beneath him. He’d never wanted someone to belong to him so desperately as he had wanted Connor. As Connor rocked down into him, Hank clutched down on Connor’s hips and drove himself deep into his lover’s ass. This time he’d be relentless, fucking Connor hard and fast into the mattress with no room to squirm away from him. He didn’t need restraints to restrain his lover. “Who,” Hank groaned low in his throat, holding back his own orgasm, “Who do you belong to?”

“You, I belong to you, Hank,” Connor sobbed again, actual tears rolling down his face now. He’d never had it this rough — he didn’t even know he’d like it this rough. It was so hard not to come, but he’d promised.

That was all Hank needed. That sobbed confession pushed him over the edge of his own control and he came, harder than he had in years, filling Connor even as he continued to hammer into him. “F-Fuck, Con!” He could hardly speak, let alone think, but he found the words to reward Connor. “Come for me.” His pace stuttered with the waves of his orgasm, but he didn’t stop; not until Connor had spent every last bit of himself across his stomach.

Gasping for air, Connor’s body practically went limp. He’d never had an orgasm that intense, ever. Tears still rolled down his face as he blinked his eyes. All that time Elijah had held this over his head and he’d been too scared to ask anyone for what he wanted. He was so glad he’d met Hank and the older man had helped him realize that there was nothing disgusting about this. In a way, he felt more complete than he ever had.

Hank slid his softening cock out of Connor and collapsed down into the bed beside him. With a little groan he rolled onto his side and beckoned Connor into his arms. That had been rough, rougher than he had intended on getting for their first time together, and he needed to make sure Connor was okay. Connor was immediately in his arms, face buried in his chest, and Hank held him tightly as he stroked his back.

“You were amazing, Con.” He kissed the brunette’s forehead, that little errant lock tickling his nose as he did. “Were you alright with all that? I didn’t push you too much?”

“No, no, Hank, I loved it,” Connor answered, wiping some of the tears off his face when he looked up. “I didn’t know but .. thank you. For everything. And the Elijah stuff. It’s still a little hard .. but I know I like it and he was lying to me.”

Hank smiled warmly, relieved, and leaned down to kiss Connor’s lips lightly. “You’re welcome. I wish that fucker hadn’t upset you, but I’m also glad you didn’t try to hide this part of yourself from me.” He ran the hand that had been petting Connor down to rub his hip lightly, loving the way the younger man shuddered pleasantly at the tenderness. “How sad would it have been if we hadn’t done all that?” His hand traveled from Connor’s hip to his stomach so that he could run his fingers through the come splattered there. Gently he wiped up some and brought it curiously to his lips, sucking Connor’s semen into his mouth.

Connor blushed at the sight. “How does it taste?” he asked.

Hank grinned. “Delicious.”

The younger man smiled, though his face was still red. “Good.” 

Hank ran his tongue along his lips. “I’ll make sure to get an even better taste next time,” he replied softly.

Connor bit his lip. “I know I just took a shower but uh, I think I might need another one.” As much as he wanted to keep cuddling with Hank, come was starting to drip down the inside of his leg.

They could definitely both use a bit of cleaning up. “Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” Connor pressed a kiss to Hank’s lips.

***

After their shower, Hank settled back into his chair at his desk just in time for his phone to ring. It was Sue, what on earth was she doing calling him? “Sue?”

“Daddy!”

His smile immediately shifted from strained to elated. “Cole! How’s my boy doing? Enjoying your trip with your Mom?”

“Uh-huh! Gram and Gramps are the best! Florida is _weird_ though! Everyone’s wearing jackets and it isn’t even snowing!”

Hank laughed warmly. “Is that right, kiddo? I bet it’s chilly for Florida though. Are you still wearing warm clothes when you go out?”

“Yeaaah,” he sounded so dejected. It was hard to be a child. There was a muffled voice in the background and then Cole perked up. “Oh! Right! Mommy said there is a BIG SNOW STORM at home! I wanted to make sure you’re okay, Daddy!”

Hank’s expression softened considerably. “I’m doing just fine. I’m going to let Sumo out into the yard in a little bit and I’ll send you a picture of him playing in the snow.”

“Yay!”

The kid was quiet for a moment and then, very innocently, he asked: “Do you think Mr. Smith is okay too?”

Hank had asked Cole not to mention his relationship with Connor to Sue, just in case it caused any complications with Cole’s schooling, and Cole had been very protective of his Very Important Mission. Hank glanced over to his bed where Connor was sitting in his oversized t-shirt looking adorably surprised. “Yeah, Kiddo. I bet he’s doing just fine.”

Cole sighed, contented that his two favorite people were safe. “Okay, Daddy! Mommy wants to talk to you now!” There was shuffling and then the voice on the other line changed: “Hey Hank.”

“Evening Sue. All's well in Florida?”

“Aside from it being Florida, yeah. Cole insisted we call and check on you. Must you send us pictures of Sumo? Do you know my phone is full of them?” Hank laughed as he heard pained complaints rising in the background.

“Yeah, no, gotta go with the Sumo pics. They’re probably more important than my own safety.”

Defeat reigned. Sue sighed. “Alright, alright. And Hank, take care of yourself?”

“Of course, Sue. Good night.”

“Good night, Hank.” “GOOD NIGHT DADDY!” “Ugh, Cole! You didn’t need to scream, you’re right here!” Softer, “Oops, Sorry. Good night, Daddy!”

“Night, kiddo! Don’t give your mom too much trouble!”

He swiped the phone off and laughed. “God that kid is pure. I love him.” He spun the chair around, looking over at Connor. “Not sure if you could hear all that, but he’s really concerned that his teacher might be all alone in this big snow storm.” He smirked.

“Too bad you couldn’t tell him that you’re taking good care of me.” Connor grinned and then shifted his position with a grimace. “Well, mostly.”

Hank feigned surprise. “Mostly! I thought I took _very_ good care of you.”

“I guess it’d be hard to explain how taking good care of me would end up in me being bruised and sore.” the younger man stuck out the tip of his tongue playfully.

Hank smirked. “To him, yeah.” He slid out of his chair and made his way to the bed to join Connor. He kissed him softly. “Are you too sore? Do you need anything?” He gently brushed his fingers through Connor’s damp hair.

“I’m fine, I like it. It reminds me who I belong to.” Connor smiled, leaning his head into Hank’s touch.

Hank shivered a little at those words. He liked that a lot. “I’m glad.” He kissed Connor again, sighing happily against his lips. “I love you, Con.”

Connor looked at Hank in confusion for a moment until the words sunk in. They’d both avoided the phrase so far, unsure if they’d reached that point. He reached up to touch the older man’s face, his eyes soft. “I love you too, Hank.”

Hank smiled brightly, realizing that he’d been holding his breath only once Connor returned the phrase and the air rushed out of him. He leaned his head on Connor’s hand, then turned slightly to kiss his palm. “I should work,” he muttered, “but if you need anything, let me know.” He kissed Connor’s palm again. “Me included.”

“Okay,” Connor agreed with a grin. 

He settled himself on the bed comfortably with his phone as Hank returned to his computer and went into writing mode. A few hours later, Hank looked up from what he was doing to find Connor asleep. His cute lover. He made his way over to the bed and pulled a blanket over Connor before slipping into the other room. He let Sumo out into the yard, shoveled some of the snow away from the door so he’d be able to open the damn thing later, then took copious pictures of the fluffy beast rolling around in the deep snow before sending one to Sue’s phone, and then retreated inside with the dog.

Sumo was disappointed, but Hank was exhausted. Shoveling sucked all the last of his energy out of him. Finally, he made his way back into bed and slipped in next to Connor. It was so much nicer crawling into bed next to someone after a long day — especially since he’d usually have Sumo on the bed with him and that monster was currently a snowy mess drying out in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around Connor, pulling the younger man close to him, and drifted blissfully into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your support and comments!!!!
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: Oops, forgot part of the chapter. Should be there now. Haha. ^^;

**_Knights and Princes_ **  
_Chapter Eight_

Connor woke up, stretching a little to find himself still wonderfully sore and realized he was curled up against Hank. What a nice way to wake up. He pressed light kisses to the older man’s face.

“Good morning,” he murmured.

Hank had never been woken with such loving kisses. Usually they were covered in slobber and he was screaming by the time he was aware of them. It was a very nice change. “Mmm, thank god you’re not Sumo.” He greeted as he threw his arms around Connor and dragged him into a deeper kiss.

Laughing when the kiss broke, Connor grinned. “I’m glad I’m not Sumo too. I’d rather be Connor, your boyfriend.”

That sounded so nice. “I like waking up with my boyfriend Connor,” he agreed happily.

“So, according to the weather report, we’re apparently stuck here today as well. How much writing do you have left to do?” the younger man asked.

“Mmm, not too much. I felt surprisingly refreshed last night, so I got a good amount done before I crashed with you. Maybe a couple more hours, then I’ll send it along to the editor.” He hummed in thought. “They’ll probably get it back to me… Tomorrow, at latest. Leaving me to make final touch ups before the end of month… I’ll make the deadline with time to spare.” He smiled, satisfied with the work he’d done.

“I was thinking,” Connor tried to ignore the heat in his face as he made this suggestion, “Maybe I could reward you for getting your writing done.”

Hank smirked. “Ohh, I like the sound of that.” He glanced over to his laptop and then back to Connor, feeling both reluctant and excited. “I guess I should get to work then.” Sumo howled defiantly from the other room, reminding him that there was more in life than sex and writing. “Fuck, after breakfast. Come on, let’s go see how much higher the snow is. It got high enough once that I ended up letting Sumo out through the window. It was hilarious… even though I got a kitchen full of snow…”

Connor laughed loudly. “Breakfast is probably a good idea.” he agreed.

Four hours later and some lunch in between, Hank had sent the last half of his manuscript to the editor and had the rest of the afternoon free. He turned his attention to Connor then, excited to finally acknowledge the question that had been nagging eagerly at the back of his mind all morning.

“Do I get my reward now, Teacher?” He smirked.

Connor chuckled but he also ignored the fact that he was turned on by Hank calling him ‘teacher’. He set his phone down on the nightstand. “Yes, you do. But I have to ask you a question first.” His face was hot again.

Hank looked Connor over, curious about what question he might have and the fact that his face was so red. Did he like being called teacher? “Shoot, Con, what’s on your mind?”

“Would you like it if I fucked you?” Connor hated how shy he was feeling about this, but he didn’t know if Hank would be receptive to his advances; and besides that, he’d only topped a few times in his life. “A-and if so, what would you like me to do?” he added, hastily.

Hank cocked his head when Connor continued before he could get anything out. “Are you nervous, Con? I don’t mind bottoming, especially not with you.” He thought about it. “Any way is fine. I’ve never done submissive stuff before, but it’s something I’d be willing to try if you’re interested. I trust you.”

Connor let out a heavy breath. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure if you’d reject me .. and I don’t have much experience. But I’d like to give you what you gave me. I’d like to own you as much as you own me now.”

Hank could’ve melted at Connor’s words. The idea of rejecting Connor had never even crossed his mind. “Part of being together is learning this sort of stuff… and I’d very much like that, you owning me too.” He slid an arm around Connor and pulled him close. “I want to belong to you.”

The younger man felt more at ease with those words and he leaned in to kiss Hank deeply. He grabbed the hem of the older man’s t-shirt and quickly pulled it over his head. Then he smirked and pushed Hank onto his back on the bed and straddled him. His face was still a little red, but he had more confidence now. “I guess I can pay you back for yesterday then.” He rocked his hips forward lightly.

Hank made a soft, surprised noise as his shirt was stolen and he was pushed down into the bed. This was not a position he was familiar with but damn, he liked it. “Please do,” he panted as he rocked back against the roll of Connor’s hips.

Connor leaned forward and pressed cute, small kisses to Hank’s stomach and then his lips made their way up his chest, until he got to the older man’s neck. Abruptly he bit down, wanting to mark Hank just as he had been. He moved his hips forward again as he did so.

Hank gasped, grinding his hips against Connor as the younger man bit down on his throat. “Fuck,” he rasped softly, breathing growing more ragged.

“Hank,” he murmured as he kissed past the angry red mark and up to the older man’s ear, “I want to come inside you. Can I?” he questioned.

Hank moaned softly when he kissed the bite mark and the sensation sent a shudder through his whole body. “Of course you can,” he panted, tilting his head so that he could kiss Connor’s cheek. “I belong to you, after all.”

Connor bit back a moan at that statement. No wonder Hank liked doing this to him. “Boxers off, now.” he said, his voice husky. He hopped off the bed to retrieve the lube and was pleased to find Hank ready for him when he turned back. He quickly removed his own clothes and climbed back on the bed, positioning himself between Hank’s legs. He ran a finger down the inside of the man’s thigh. 

“Tell me what you want me to do, Hank.” But this time his voice wasn’t weak and questioning; it was commanding and confident. He wanted his boyfriend to beg.

Hank liked this side of Connor. He’d seen it in him before but never directed at him. It was terribly sexy. He parted his legs for Connor, breathing heavy, and moaned softly when Connor’s finger ran along his thigh. “Nnn… Connor. I want you to fuck me.”

A smirk curled onto Connor’s face as he covered his fingers in lube. “Soon, love.” He gently pushed his first finger in and found much resistance. He eased the finger in further. “I’m not going to be able to be quick with how tight you are,” he practically purred.

Hank groaned, trying to breathe out and be calm. “It’s ahhh, been _a while_.” He relaxed himself to the best of his ability and then pressed himself into Connor’s gentle probing.

Connor worked that finger all the way in and then pulled it back to start with the second. “You’re doing good,” he reassured his lover.

A shudder ran through Hank as Connor slid a second finger in. “Nnn, _Connor_.” He was easing up the longer Connor fingered him, his body falling into rhythm with Connor’s thrusts until he was huffing breathlessly.

He liked hearing his name like that on Hank’s lips. He wanted to hear more. He pressed in a third finger and began moving them slowly in and out of the older man. “Is this what you wanted?” he teased. “I’m fucking you now.”

Hank let out a quaking sigh as Connor’s third finger slid inside of him. “Fuck,” he breathed and shook his head. “No, I want your cock inside of me.” He blushed softly at the greediness in his tone, at how eagerly he wanted it. He ground his hips down harder, his own erection twitching eagerly as he did.

God, it was hot seeing Hank vulnerable and desperate like this. Connor bit his lip hard and removed his fingers. “Oh, so that’s what you want,” he murmured, adding some more lube to himself. Holding Hank’s legs apart, he began to push inside slowly, his own breath heavy now. “You’re still so tight,” he groaned.

Hank chuckled airily, his body shuddering as Connor removed his fingers. “Fuck, Con.” He bit his lip, “Please hurry.” Slowly Connor pushed into him and Hank’s head tossed back against the pillows as he pressed back into the stretching pressure. “Connor… More, please.” He rolled his hips against Connor and his head reeled with pleasure. “I need you, Connor.”

Is this what he sounded like when he begged for Hank? Connor shivered at the tone in Hank’s voice, the hungry pleading - it was gorgeous and Hank was so sexy. He pushed all the way in with another groan, and then started up a smooth rhythm into the older man’s desperate thrusts. 

Hank moaned roughly as Connor started to move against him. “Nnn, Connor,” he pleaded the younger man’s name as he reached up to wrap his arms around him. “That’s good, fuck, right there.” He gasped, body hot and shaking with need as he rut himself into Connor over and over again. “You feel so fucking good, Con.”

Connor kissed him and then pressed his fingertips in the bruise he’d left on Hank’s neck. He slammed into the spot that kept making Hank call his name. “You’d never let anyone else fuck you like this, would you?” he murmured, but his voice was heavy, his tone demanding.

Hank’s head tossed back again, a loud moan pouring out of him as Connor pressed into that tender bruise. “F- _fuck_!” He bucked down into Connor’s thrust, his back arching slightly as Connor slammed into his prostate again. “Fuck no.” He finally managed the words between his broken moans. “No one but you.”

“Hank,” he moaned softly, but now his tone wrapped around the word warmly. Then he was pressing deeply into the bruise and making his pace relentlessly fast. “Come for me.” he insisted.

Hank whimpered sweetly as Connor’s pressure increased, his body quaking from the surge of pain and pleasure, and then Connor was fucking him. Hammering into his sweet spot and making his head spin at the sweeping sensation of bliss. “Con, fuck, I’m going to… _fuck_!” He came, body twitching and spasming around Connor’s ass as the younger male continued to fuck him through the high of his orgasm. Connor’s name became a mantra on his lips, repeated over and over again as Connor fucked him.

Connor bit down into the mark he’d left again as he came. He muffled his moans into it as he slammed into Hank a few more times before coming inside of him. “There,” he breathed into his lover’s ear. “You’re just as much mine as I am yours now.”

Hank’s fingers clutched roughly onto Connor, holding on tight as Connor bit into that same spot. It hurt so bad tears sprung in his eyes but he loved it; loved belonging to Connor, and those words cemented it. He let out a whimpering moan, shuddering with pleasure as he slumped into the bed. “Yours,” he agreed happily.

The younger man pulled out with a soft noise and then laid beside Hank and reached his arms out to him. “We’ll get cleaned up in a moment, right now I’d just like to hold you, if that’s okay.”

“That’s more than okay,” Hank rasped slightly. He cleared his throat and the brief tensing of muscles made Connor’s bite throb pleasantly. “Nnn,” he sighed softly before flopping into Connor’s arms. “Never thought I’d bottom like that for anyone.” He kissed Connor’s neck and chin. “I’m so glad to have you all to myself.”

Connor laughed softly. “I didn’t know I had it in me to be that intense on top. I guess we’re both learning a lot about each other.” He loved the warmth of Hank’s body lying against his. Reaching down, he gently yanked the older man’s now messy hair out of what was left in the hair tie. “I probably should have taken this off you at the start.”

Hank laughed softly. “You really like my hair down, huh?” He wrapped his arms around Connor and held him, basking in the closeness of his lover.

“Well, yeah,” Connor replied as if that was obvious. “You look handsome both ways, but I usually see you with your hair up so .. it’s like something I get to see and not other people.” He pushed a few strands behind Hank’s ear. 

That made sense. Hank smiled happily and leaned in to kiss Connor. “That’s true. Everyone says I look more professional with it up.” He laid his head on Connor’s chest and let his fingers trail lazily along the younger man’s body.

Connor looked thoughtful for a moment and then spoke. “Hm. So, you think when we’ve recovered, you might try out those restraints on me?” He grinned mischievously. “This was definitely nice, but I did really love having you fuck me.”

Hank leaned back and flashed Connor a grin mischievous enough to rival his own. “Mmm, I would _love_ that. Getting fucked was great, but nothing beats seeing you writhing under me.” He gave Connor’s package a suggestive squeeze. “I’m glad you enjoy it too.”

The younger man bit his lip and then smiled. “How could I not?”

***

Hank’s only regret about being fucked was that it made shoveling the bit of snow away from the back door more awkward than usual. He grumbled a bit more loudly as he fought back the build up, and ultimately gave in and just let Sumo barrel through the wall of cold. He was just happy to be buried in the snow. Hank lounged in the living room and sipped hot coffee with Connor until the Saint Bernard began to cry sadly at the door.

Never cold, just lonely.

He let his beast back in and forcibly dried him off before letting him romp around the living room again. Finally Hank sunk back into the sofa and Connor came to join him once more. The younger man climbed into his lover’s lap, kissing him as he ran his fingers through Hank’s messy snow-dampened hair.

“Beautiful,” Connor sighed as he peered down at Hank. Hank’s cheeks warmed, though he doubted Connor could tell from his cold-reddened cheeks. Connor leaned in, lips brushing Hank’s earlobe. “I meant this.” As he spoke Connor pressed his fingers into the large bruise he’d left behind some hours earlier, it still throbbed whenever Hank thought about it and Connor’s touch especially made him shudder and moan.

“You’re a terribly naughty boy,” Hank replied with a smug laugh but he pulled Connor down into a deep kiss. When his body stopped protesting the strenuous dog tasks, he was going to make his lover pay.

***

“If this snow never lets up,” commented Connor. “I’m going to have to run around naked while you wash my clothes, and the lesson plan for next year is just going to be Bill Nye the Science Guy.”

Hank laughed loudly. “I really don’t object to you running around my house naked, though I don’t think I will get the rest of my work done. And also who doesn’t love Bill Nye the Science Guy?”

Connor laid his head in Hank’s lap. “The school board for one.” He sighed. “I don’t really mind too much because being here with you is the nicest thing I’ve gotten to do in a long time.”

They were still lounging on the sofa in the late afternoon. The snow kept piling up outside, seeming unending. Sumo was in a corner of the living room, snoozing. Soon he’d be whining for his dinner though.

The older man ran his fingers through Connor’s hair. “It’s like an unexpected vacation, let it be what it is. I’m sure you’ll be able to get your work done in time.”

“You’re right. I probably worry too much.” he closed his eyes and almost dozed off. The feeling of Hank petting him with the soft drone of the weather report on the TV were very comforting.

“Mmm,” Connor murmured as something occurred to him. He opened his eyes and looked up at his lover. “I guess we’re going to be spending New Years together. What do you usually do?”

Hank paused, his expression briefly thoughtful. “Sue usually takes Cole down to Florida to see his grandparents around now, so I’m usually alone for New Years.” He frowned for a moment. “Typically I’d just go out to a bar. When it snows bad like this I stay in and have a drink. What about you?”

“Back home and in college, I used to go out with my friends. But I didn’t really get close with anyone since I’ve moved here. So the last few years, I just fell asleep in front of the TV. Very exciting.” Connor laughed. “At least you go to the bar. So much for my youth.”

Hank laughed softly. “Mmm, I’m kind of glad. Someone might’ve come along and snagged you up before me.” He ran his fingers through Connor’s hair, stroking his thumb along the younger man’s cheek. “I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it.” For a few moments Hank was silent, thinking, and then he tilted his head. “So why don’t we make up our own tradition. To celebrate making everything official.” He accented his words by gently pressing Connor’s bruised hips.

“Nn,” Connor couldn’t stop the noise that escaped him at the touch. He smirked up at Hank anyway. “Okay. What did you have in mind then?”

“I’m a little on the fence,” he muttered thoughtfully. “We could have a nice drink in together and then some fabulous sex? Or I could tie you up and see how many times I can bring you to the edge of an orgasm before the ball drops - in both regards.” He smirked.

“Hmmm,” the younger man pretended to think hard about it. “I don’t know, option two seems pretty fun.”

Hank smirked. “You think so? I wasn’t sure if it was too underwhelming.”

Connor laughed and sat up to kiss Hank. “I think the idea of you teasing me all night sounds the best. You’re pretty good at that.”

Hank kissed Connor deeply as he wrapped his arms around the younger man. “I agree.. and you’re so satisfying to tease.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, lifey things happened. Thanks for the comments!!!

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Nine_

New Years Eve. Hank had shoveled his way to the road some time that morning but, with more snow on the way, they had encouraged everyone to stay off the roads. Not that he and Connor had planned to be apart this New Years Eve anyway. They’d been fooling around like errant teenagers all day, teasing and toying with each other because they were both eager for the evening to come.

A little before 11pm, Hank bound Connor to his bed with the restraints, looming over him as he adjusted everything just so. It wasn’t the first time they’d experimented with Connor being tied to the bed during their snowy vacation, but it _was_ going to be their most intense ‘play session’.

Hank trailed a finger down Connor’s naked body, sliding his hand over the younger man’s cock. “We can stop any time it gets too much, alright? You say Red and I stop, the restraints come off.”

“Okay,” Connor confirmed. He tested the restraints but even a little bit of movement pulled them taut. It made him shiver in anticipation. Hank could do anything he wanted. That excited him immensely. He knew he had an out at any time but he wanted to test his own limits as well.

“Good boy,” Hank praised softly before he kissed Connor.

For now Hank would take things nice and slow. He gently straddled his lover and began to kiss him from his lips and move steadily down his body. He paused from time to time, sucking on the skin until little red hickeys appeared. Marking Connor. “Do you want me to leave bruises too? Something to think about while you’re at work?” He teased.

“As long as they’re not on my neck or face, yes. I would _love_ that.” Since the last couple days had been nothing but spending time with Hank and having sex, he was almost forgetting what work was. He would definitely need some friendly reminders when he had to get back to his regular life.

“Of course. Just what can be covered.” He chuckled. His lips passed over so many tender little areas, his nipples, his ribs, never biting but always leaving the chance there. Eventually he made his way to Connor’s thighs and, without warning, he sank his teeth into the meaty area of his inner thigh.

“Uhn—“ Connor groaned out in surprise. He still had an hour to go and Hank was definitely not going to hold back. From where his head was positioned, he could already see the angry red mark forming on his skin. “Mm, now I won’t be able to forget you even when I’m sitting at my desk.”

Hank leaned back and lightly licked the red mark. “Exactly.” He rubbed his thumb into the bruise, massaging the tender spot. “I’ll make sure to give you lots of little things to remember me by.” His lips brushed Connor’s cock, teasing, before retreating to move up Connor’s body once more. He nibbled on Connor’s hip, not enough to leave a mark this time, and finally returned to straddling the younger man. “Can you feel it throbbing still?”

“Yes,” he murmured, trying very hard to resist the urge to grind against Hank. If he was going to last, he better learn to pace himself. He tugged at the restraints again and enjoyed the feeling of them going taut and reminding him there was no place to escape to.

Hank admired the handsome young man beneath him, the way his body strained at the bindings holding him down on the bed. “You’re so beautiful, Con.” He whispered as he rolled his hips down to rub himself against Connor’s cock. “All tied up and at my whim.”

“I want you to use me however you want, Hank,” Connor said breathily, letting himself rock his hips upward a little.

Hank reached down, cupping his lover’s cheeks before kissing him softly. “I fully intend to.” He spent the next few minutes just kissing Connor and leaving little hickeys everywhere he felt the desire to do so. 

Finally he sunk down to Connor’s cock and wrapped his hand around it. “I want you to do your best to hold back for me.” Then he took Connor’s half-hard cock into his mouth.

He didn’t do this often, but he’d done it enough in his youth that he could certainly work Connor up into a nice breathless state. Of course, that was exactly when he stopped. When Connor was fully erect and his hips were mindlessly bucking, when his moans sounded so desperately needy… He pulled back entirely and admired his work.

“Fuck,” Connor moaned, squirming against the bed and pulling at the restraints uselessly. He couldn’t even grind himself into anything for relief, he was trapped on his back. He whimpered and his cock twitched.

“Very nice,” Hank fondled Connor for a moment, letting his finger brush the tip so that pre-come dripped in a pearly strand from Connor’s erection. “So sexy.”

“Hank,” pleaded Connor, but he wasn’t sure what for, because he knew already that he wasn’t going to be getting anything he wanted anytime soon.

Hank was enjoying stretching this out. He dropped his hands away from Connor’s erection and focused instead on the bruise coming up nicely on Connor’s thigh. He pressed a thumb into it, hard. The younger man gasped and pulled at the restraints again. The forming bruise sent a jolt of pain through him like electricity. But if Connor couldn’t have pleasure, he’d take pain instead.

Sitting up on his knees so that he could admire the writhing form beneath him, Hank wrapped a hand around himself and began to jerk himself off. He eased his own burning pressure without restraint, letting Connor watch him with desperate eyes brimming with tears. Connor was making that face again, that helpless doe-eyed expression as he tugged more and more fiercely at his bindings.

“Please, Hank, please…” He shuddered fiercely, cock oozing pre-come. He needed it, needed Hank. “Please!”

Hank shuddered and, still stroking himself, came all over Connor’s chest. He slumped down seated between Connor’s legs, and watched the boy shiver desperately. That would keep him from giving into the urge to fuck the younger man until New Years; he’d need the time left to regain some stamina.

Connor was still shaking, his cock rock hard against his abdomen. “Fuck, fuck,” he whimpered, hardly able to move. He wanted to touch himself, he wanted Hank inside of him, he wanted anything but this. And the older man knew exactly what he’d done, he knew exactly how much Connor was turned on now.

He had a little over half an hour to work himself back up again and, really, that wouldn’t be hard at all. Connor was breathless, shaking, begging. His stomach had strands of pre-come wetting it and he bucked restlessly against nothing. Hank refused to touch him in any way that would bring relief. For a few cruel moments, Hank even left the room all together. He came back to Connor sobbing softly and squirming, but when he kissed him and eased water into his lips, Connor was hard all over again.

Over and over again Hank brought his lover to the brink and then backed him down until his body was so sensitive that even brushing against his aching erection caused him to sob and leak pre-come.

The New Years celebration on the TV was a low mumble, nothing truly important, until the announcer excitedly mentioned it was nearly time for the ball to drop. Hank looked over at the TV and then back to Connor. “What a good boy you’ve been, do you hear that? Your relief is coming.” Connor’s response was incoherent, but _hungry_. 

Hank positioned himself between Connor’s legs, stroking generous amounts of lube along his cock. On 10, he pushed slowly into Connor. 

9.

8.

7, Connor’s greedy ass had taken all of him in and was twitching eagerly around him. Connor was sobbing.

6\. “Please, fuck, Hank, fuck me.” Connor was desperation and lust, his body felt like it was on fire.

5.

4\. Hank was moving inside of him, groaning as he wrapped his fingers around the base of Connor’s cock.

3\. Connor was screaming with ecstasy, he couldn’t control himself anymore.

2\. “Are you ready, Con?”

1\. “Come for me.”

The TV exploded with fireworks and applause, everyone was screaming. Connor was screaming. He couldn’t believe how hard he was coming, the sticky fluid pouring across his stomach as his hips bucked involuntarily against Hank over and over again. Hank had even cried out at the force of his orgasm, his whole body shuddering as he doubled over Connor and filled him full of come. Connor’s ass was leaking from how hard it spasmed around his softening dick, every tremor causing more to drip out along the quivering curve of his ass.

Hank slumped down on top of him, sighing blissfully. “Happy New Years, Con.” He whispered and then kissed him deeply.

***

It was the beginning of a new year at school and Connor was an absolute mess. The snow had finally abated and he had to get back to work. He struggled through the first half of the day and then did give up and let Bill Nye teach some of the class. He was literally sore just about _everywhere_. There was no comfortable position to sit in where some part of his thigh wasn’t throbbing and bruised, and he was glad it was winter, because he had some marks from pulling at the restraints. The very worst part though was that his students could tell he was visibly in pain and were worried about him. Connor managed to fumble his way through an excuse about shoveling snow. 

The very best part of it was that he remembered Hank every second of his day. The pain and soreness were pleasing to him, and even though it made his day back harder, he wouldn’t change his experience for anything.

***

Once the snow stopped, reality returned. Hank finished up his editing, added the last touches to his novel, and sent it back to the publishing company for their final run. They’d take care of everything until he got his first shipment of the pre-ordered signed copies. That was always annoying, though this time he did put in a request for an extra copy. He needed to make sure Connor hadn’t preordered one of his own…

Then he wandered around the house, somewhat listless and a little uncertain of himself. He’d been snowed in for the last two days but he’d had Connor at his side the whole time. Now the house felt strangely empty. He cleaned, made sure Cole’s room was in order for his next visit, walked Sumo. Paced. Drank coffee and stared at the wall instead of actually listening to music. Paced more.

He had been trying to refrain from texting Connor like a lovesick teenager but it simply didn’t work. Even though he knew Connor had lesson plans to get in order before the first day back to class, he found himself texting his lover.

That just made the acute emptiness that was the lack of Connor more persistent. Now he could imagine his voice, could see his big brown eyes… It was almost too much.

Just like a lovesick teenager, he wound up touching himself in the shower as he tried to clear his head.

That afternoon he picked up Cole from school and resisted taking a detour to see Connor before heading home. Before long he’d settle back into his regular routine and the lack of Connor’s presence wouldn’t bother him so much… At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

It didn’t help that once Cole _was_ home the boy spent half an hour telling him about how poor Mr. Smith _hadn’t_ been okay in the blizzard and he’d fallen while shoveling and _that_ was why he was walking funny. Hank couldn’t even resist laughing when Cole told him the horrible story. He apologized to Cole profusely for having not known that Connor would do such a thing as slip on ice and then promptly texted the tale to his lover.

[Hope your butt feels better soon.] He added.

Connor was adorably mortified.

On the weekend, Connor came over and they all had dinner together while Cole told Connor all about Florida and his grandparents. It was the closest thing to domestic bliss that Hank had ever experienced. With Sue these dinners always held an undertone of hostility. With just Cole there was always something missing. The something was Connor. His warm laugh, his big chocolate eyes glancing up at him from time to time, the little quirk to his lips when he was trying not to smile at something Cole had said.

Everything was perfect.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for sticking with us and all your lovely comments!

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Ten_

Hank ended up finding the blog first.

It had become a bit of a playful challenge between him and Connor to see who would locate it first, but he had stopped seriously trying months ago. Now, after trying a random string of search terms and yet another novel from around the time that Connor was 17, he had found it.

Connor’s very angry rant about his third book which had, as Connor predicted, contained more than a little of his leaked personal issues from that time. The entire post was laced with the indignant haughtiness of a teenager, personally hurt by one of their favorite authors producing subpar media. As far as bad reviews went, it was adorable.

And accurate.

Hank found the rest of his blog much more interesting. Connor had been very into true crime and fiction based on true crime and then a whole eclectic collection of bizarre and unusual things. He couldn’t bring himself to stop reading.

“Hank! Was I right in assuming you haven’t had dinner yet?” Hank swore in surprise as he stumbled to his feet. He could hear Connor’s laughter approaching. “Called it! I brought you dinner from that takeout place we like. .. Why do you look like I’ve just caught you with your pants down?”

Hank coughed and did his best sheepish look. “Set the food down on the table first, I have something to tell you.”

“What?” Connor did as he was asked, doe-eyes full of worry, and it almost pained Hank to tease him like this.

“Connor…”

“Hank, _what_?!”

“I found your blog.”

Connor gasped and then broke out laughing as he shoved Hank away from him. “You bastard, I was scared!” He froze, hands darting to cover his face as he shook his head. “Oh no! Was it that bad? Are you upset? I’m so sorry! I was just stupid and young and mad!”

Hank just laughed and pulled Connor into a big hug. “No no no, it wasn’t that bad! I was just messing with you. It was all very endearing, and then I got sidetracked reading your blog.”

Connor let out a sigh of relief. “But that still means you haven’t eaten dinner?”

“Heh, yeah. That food smells amazing.”

Laughing, Connor grabbed the bag of food and pointed accusingly at the laptop. “Bring that thing with you, we’re going to eat and read my terrible entries before I decide if I should delete the whole thing.”

“Delete it? No! I love it! There’s a section about local urban myths that’s actually extremely enjoyable!”

Connor sputtered softly and looked down. “If you say so,” he said, a little bashfully. He was glad Hank liked it but was a little embarrassed about his poor, incoherent blogging skills from the past. There were more than a few angsty personal rants in between the actual content. Oh well, they could probably both get a good laugh at it now. He settled into the sofa with his boyfriend.

***

It was early March and Sue was having dinner with Cole when It finally happened. The boy had been excitedly recounting his week with his father when he mentioned something that made her freeze.

“Connor and Daddy are going to take me to the Zoo next weekend!”

She had started to say “How nice!” when the name Connor stuck at her memory. Hank had never mentioned a Connor? “Connor?”

By the time Sue’s question had registered Cole had already been talking about Rhinos and Monkeys and all the great things he was going to see. He was so lost in his starry-eyed tale that he answered automatically: “Mr. Smith!”

“Daddy and Mr. Smith are _both_ taking you to the Zoo? On the weekend? It’s not a school field trip?”

Cole’s mouth fell open, his eyes wide. He had failed his Very Important Mission, but he was also old enough to know that telling Mom it was a Secret that he was keeping from her would go Very Badly. Cole’s shoulders hunched and he sank down in his chair.

“Yes. Are you mad? Daddy thought you’d be mad if you knew.”

Her jaw was tight but her expression was soft. Cole didn’t know, it wasn’t his fault. “No, of course I’m not mad. We should talk to Daddy about keeping secrets, though. We know how bad _they_ are.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“It’s not your fault, sweetie. Daddy should know better.”

Cole still wasn’t happy, but Mommy didn’t bring up the topic again. Everything went like normal. She dropped him off at the bus stop before work and let him know that he was riding home with Zoey and her mom after school. That was always how it was when Mommy had to work late, so Cole thought nothing more on it.

That afternoon, however, Sue didn’t have to work late.

She did have to talk to an idiot ex-husband about his idiot choices about _hiding_ his new boyfriend from her by using their _son_. Sue knocked on Hank’s door, heard Sumo barking, and Hank grumbling as he told the dog to stand down. The older man opened the door without checking and the sight was perfect for her goal today. Because his shirt was unbuttoned and from the doorway she could see a disheveled Mr. Smith sitting on his sofa. Their eyes met and Connor was the first to choke.

Hank took a second later and then he just seemed extra frustrated.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Where is Cole?”

“Having dinner with his classmate. Her mother watches him when I have work and _clearly_ we need to work on communication skills. What the fuck, Hank? Why did you think it was a good idea getting _Cole_ to keep your dirty secret for you?”

Hank pulled back, offended and angry. “He’s not a dirty secret, I just didn’t want to deal with your _bullshit_ about it.”

“He’s Cole’s _teacher_!”

“He’s also a person! And he’s right fucking here so I won’t talk about him like he’s not.”

“Could we maybe talk about this without the entire neighborhood listening in?” Connor suggested, smoothing his hair back nervously.

Hank and Sue both hesitated and then Hank stepped back and Sue stepped inside before Hank closed the door again. “Sorry, love,” he muttered bashfully.

Sue shot Hank a dirty look. “How long has this been going on?”

Hank strolled casually toward the couch and plopped down on the sofa before he started fixing his shirt buttons. “I don’t know, four months and some change?” He glanced at Connor for confirmation. “We got to know each other a bit on that field trip you sent me on, thanks by the way. Did you know he reads my books?” Hank sounded proud now as he bragged happily about his boyfriend.

Sue had followed Hank to the sofa and sat down at the chair on the other side. Sumo retreated from Sue and came over to lay his head on Connor’s lap. They’d never gotten along.

“Of course I didn’t know that! I kept our working relationship appropriate, Teacher-Parent, nothing more! Why would you jeopardize Cole’s schooling like this???”

“In what way does this jeopardize Cole’s schooling?” Connor questioned, his eyes narrowing. It was one thing for her to be upset about them not telling her, but it was another to assume he would have a lack of professionalism about the situation.

“I…” Sue was clearly used to arguing with Hank, but involving Connor in it slowed her down. She huffed. “Favoritism?” She accused defiantly. “He’s always going on about you, and now I’m finding out its because you’re taking him places with my husband!”

“Sue, back the fuck down. He adored Connor long before I made it clear I was in a relationship with him. Damnit, he was trying to hook us up since that damn field trip! Connor’s been nothing but professional. Has Cole ever bragged about special privileges? Or does he talk about how Connor fucking challenges him in class and gives him extra work when he notices subjects are too easy? Cause that’s what he talks to _me_ about.”

“Don’t make this about Cole!” Sue snapped back.

“What is it about if it isn’t Cole?!”

“You used him to lie for you!”

“I only told him you wouldn’t like me dating Connor, and I think I was correct about _that_.” She was clearly at a loss for words, face red as she sputtered. “I would’ve kept it from him until the year was over, but damnit Sue, he was worried about me. Kept asking if I was lonely and shit… And I was. It’s not fair for the kid to worry about that kind of shit. So I admitted to him that I was dating Connor and told him not to tell you cause I didn’t want to cause problems. Fuck if that didn’t backfire.”

Sue wanted to be mad, it was clear, but Hank couldn’t fully understand why. “Damn right it did.” She hissed. “You’ve always been a fucking coward, Hank.”

“Don’t start that shit, Sue.”

Connor slowly sat forward, his hand resting on Hank’s knee. “Sue… It’s not my place, but are you _jealous_?”

The woman’s eyes went wide and her back stiffened. “What? No. No of course not!”

“We’ve made it clear that this isn’t affecting Cole’s schooling. You should be more concerned about whether or not it’s affecting your son - not what Hank did in an effort to make it easier on him.” Connor glanced over to Hank and then back to Sue. “Personally, I wondered why he felt it was necessary.”

Hank folded his arms across his chest, turning his gaze away from Sue. Fuck. Of course, he hadn’t consciously thought about her bullshit… It had been six fucking years. “It’s because you’re a man. Isn’t that right, Sue?”

Sue stood up abruptly. “Fuck you, Hank. I said it already: you’re a liar and a fucking coward. We could have had a good family but you were too concerned about your fucking _self_.” She straightened her clothes and flicked her gaze to Connor briefly, to the dog on his knee, and clenched her teeth. “Have a good evening, Mr. Smith.”

And she stormed out.

Hank didn’t follow her. He just sat there for a long moment, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. This again? He liked to let himself forget because Cole had become so precious to him that he’d never regret the path he took to get to him… but it was still there, still true, and apparently Sue was still upset about it. Connor was a blessing. He remained quiet as Hank processed, didn’t jump him with questions. He just waited until Hank was ready.

Slowly the older man let out a deep breath and opened his eyes again.

“We met when I was in my.. early 40s, I guess. I had never planned to get married, or have kids, or anything. I was happily engaged to my work, and the short term relationships I was a part of were fine by me. Sue wasn’t the first time one of my partners didn’t agree with my ideals, but she was the first that… went out of her way to change it.”

“How did she do that?” questioned Connor, frowning.

Hank laughed a little, the sound frustrated. “She had Cole.” The thought of it made his heart fucking ache and, when Connor caught his gaze he found that pain reflected in Connor’s gaze. It was enough to make him push on, to put this part of the conversation as far behind them as he can. “We fought so much when she was pregnant, and eventually I accepted her pleading to get married because I felt fucking responsible… And then this tiny, amazing little thing is born and I adore him, y’know? More than anything. So I think: It’ll be okay, I’ll just accept this life.”

Connor said what they were both thinking, the truth: “But it doesn’t work like that.”

“No,” Hank agreed, “Cole was never enough to keep that relationship, built on lies like it was, running. Sue and I were friends, at best, but we weren’t ever meant to be lovers. The longer we were together, the less we could stand each other, and after a while we both ended up wanting more. She’s the one who officially broke things off, but we both agreed to remain amiable for Cole’s sake. He’s the one good thing between us.”

Connor opened his arms invitingly and Hank slumped down into them with a heavy sigh. He patted the older man’s back soothingly. “I wish I could do something more than this for you, but I am here for you if you need to get anything off your chest.” He paused a moment. “Do you think she’ll tell the school? There’s no real rules against dating a student’s parent, but they might not like it.”

Hank groaned. “Nah, I don’t think she’ll go that far. You were right, this is about me and not Cole. I just can’t believe she’s still fucking holding a grudge. Crazy woman.”

"You said it was because I was a man. Do you mean she wouldn't be this angry if you were dating a woman?"

“Probably not. She was always frustrated with me for not wanting the life she did. I wasn’t interested in settling down with a man or a woman, and she wanted a husband she could show to the parents… I was never that sort of husband. So I think if she’d found out that I had ultimately chosen a woman, she would have won the battle. That I like a handsome man instead probably just sticks in it.” Hank shifted to look up at his lover and gave Connor a kiss. When he leaned back he was grinning. “Can you imagine what she thought of my interest in restraints?”

Connor laughed. “I can’t imagine she was into that sort of thing, no.” The younger man snuggled up to Hank. “She’s right about one thing; I’d totally take you home to my parents.”

Hank found himself blushing as he shifted to better wrap his arms around Connor. “Heh, you would.” He sat up, ran his fingers through Connor’s messy hair, and then kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Hank,” Connor managed to say, despite the fact that his throat still felt tight when Hank said that. He kissed his boyfriend back.

Hank’s arms fell gently around Connor’s waist and pulled him back up into his lap where they had started before Sue arrived. “Now, where were we?”

***

Hank had been debating this for some time but the incident with Sue officially cemented his plans. He just needed to make sure his whole family was in agreement. He had a long discussion with Sumo and he was overjoyed. So it was just down to talking to Cole.

“Hey Kiddo!”

“Daddy!”

Sue was glaring at him from the front door, still sore about his relationship with Connor, but he waved cheerfully and pretended he had no idea what she was angry about. Even though he could feel her rage, she did him the kindness of not mentioning anything in front of Nice Guy (Cole called him Bill). When they got into the car, however, Cole’s excitement faded into despondence.

“I’m sorry, Daddy! I was so excited about the zoo that I failed my secret mission! Mommy found out…”

“I know, Kiddo. It’s no problem. Mommy was right, I shouldn’t have asked you to keep that from her.”

Cole fidgeted and frowned up at Hank. “Okay.”

Hank smiled down at the kid for a moment and then turned his gaze to the road. “I do have a different sort of secret mission for you, if you had fun playing last time. But this one is super extra secret.”

“From Mommy?” Cole’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

“No. From Connor.”

Cole gasped, looked around secretively, and then leaned forward with that bright-eyed curiosity. “What’s the mission, Dad?!”

“Well first, I need to know what you think of Connor. Would you like him to become a part of our family?”

“He’s great! I love him! He’s smart and fun and he makes you smile more than I’ve ever seen you smile! And even when I mess up or break the rules, he’s real nice about it.” Hank smiled more and more as Cole spoke about Connor. God he loved that man. “I do want him to be a part of our family! I want you to be able to finally marry your prince!”

This made him blush. Marry his Prince. That was pretty much what he had planned. “I’m glad, because after the school year is over, I’m going to ask him to marry me. He’ll be your Dad too.”

“Oh! But what’s my mission?”

“This is a two-part mission. First we have to successfully complete step one.”

“Wow! Two?”

“Yep! First we have to make sure neither of us mention this to Connor before the end of the school year, no matter how tempting it is. The second part depends entirely on the success of the first part.”

Cole was shaking with excitement. “I promise I’ll do my very best. I swear!” He held out a tiny pinky and Hank caught it with his own much larger hand to give him a little shake.

“It’s a pact then. Connor doesn’t know, and we’ll make him the happiest Prince around.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's the end, crazy! Thanks for all the comments and for sticking with us!! We really appreciate all our readers. My Hank and I have a three part series in the works but it's not quite done yet so I'm not sure when we'll be posting it, but keep an eye out for it. Thanks!!!

**_Knights and Princes_ **   
_Chapter Eleven_

It had to be just because they were both excited for the end of the semester, but the school year seemed to take forever. Spring break was tantalizing and then, finally, Summer was upon them. The little grade school graduation was cute and Sue was being less annoying than usual, so Hank left her with Cole as he slipped away to find Connor.

“Hank, what are you doing back here?” Connor blushed as he hurried over to Hank.

“I had something I needed to ask you, something very important.”

“What? Did something happen?”

Hank dropped to a knee, contemplated saying something ridiculous and cheesy about stolen hearts, and instead just produced the little black box with the simple little engagement band inside. “Will you marry me?”

Connor stared at him blankly for a second before speaking, his face torn between elation and disbelief. “Hank — I mean, yes,” he said in a rush, “are you sure you want to marry me?” he added on.

Hank’s eyes lit up and he broke into a wide smile as Connor said yes, though the following statement made him laugh awkwardly. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and you’re the one I want to spend my life with. That and Cole thinks you’re the best thing since ice cream.”

“I just .. well, yes, Hank, of course I want to marry you!” the younger man flew at him and embraced him, his eyes tearing up. “I just .. didn’t think you’d want to go through that again.”

Hank laughed and wrapped an arm around Connor as he slid to his feet. “You know, it feels a lot better without the coercion and shit.” He kissed Connor lightly and then pulled back. “Now let me see if I got your ring size right.”

Connor held out his left hand and tried not to let it shake in anticipation. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, truthfully.

“Perfect.” It slipped on smoothly: a small band of sparkling diamonds. “I hope you don’t mind that I went with something simple.”

“No, no, it’s perfect. Very subtle.” Connor flipped his hand back and forth in admiration, then threw his arms around Hank again. “I love you so much.”

Hank sighed with relief as he wrapped his arms tightly around Connor. “I love you too.” He broke into a warm laugh. “Let’s go tell Cole you said yes, Sue can’t figure out why he’s been so hyped to graduate when he loved your class so much.” Heh.

Connor laughed loudly, following Hank out the door and rolling the ring around on his finger. “She’s going to be _thrilled_.”

“I know!” Hank replied giddily. He felt like a teenager and it was wonderful. The older man entwined his fingers with Connor’s and stepped back out into the crowd in search of Cole.

He wasn’t surprised when Cole found him first, with a confused Sue and Nice Guy Bill. The boy immediately looked between them, eyes bright. “Are you going to be my other dad?!”

“Yes, yes, I am,” Connor said with just as much enthusiasm. He leaned down to hug Cole, still fighting back tears.

Cole threw his arms around Connor, giggling with delight. “Yay!”

Hank stood above the pair, just grinning smugly at the sight of his little family — and Sue. Oh her face made this whole moment worth it. “You couldn’t wait until the ceremony was over? This is Cole’s day!”

Hank just beamed. “Yeah. It was his idea that I do it today.”

Cole let go of Connor and began jumping up and down at Sue’s side. “THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER! I HAVE THE COOLEST DADS!”

Connor laughed again, wiping his eyes. “I’m glad he thinks so.” He took Hank’s hand again and squeezed it. To be quite honest, he was barely paying any attention to Sue and her current boyfriend. He was too overwhelmed by the love he was receiving from the two people he also loved most in the world.

Hank just made a motion as if to say “See, told you so” and Sue could do nothing in the face of Cole’s very loud enthusiasm. Which had also attracted a couple glances from other parents who turned absently and clapped cheerfully at whatever exciting thing was happening. Hank just beamed. “So, I was thinking we could all go out for some ice cream. My treat.”

With the attention span of a 7-year-old, Cole had a new favorite thing. “Yes, please! Can I choose where we go?!”

Hank smiled. “Of course, kiddo!”

***

It didn’t take much discussion for Connor and Hank to decide they wanted to do something simple and private. Just a generic courthouse wedding with Cole as their little ring bearer. Everyone was happy, and afterward they collected Sumo and met a photographer at their favorite park. It was a fun little photoshoot and a perfect start to their life together.

When everything was said and done, and Cole was back with Sue, Hank finally slumped onto the sofa with his husband. “I’m so glad that wasn’t as insane as last time — but I’m still exhausted.” He had brought his laptop out with him and he opened it up on his lap. “But uh, if you’re up for it, I wanted to see if you liked my ridiculous idea for a honey moon.”

Connor curled up against Hank’s shoulder to look at the computer. “I’ve been so focused on just getting married that I hadn’t even thought about that part yet. So tell me your idea.”

Hank grinned broadly, snuggling up next to Connor and propping the laptop between them. “So I was thinking Hawaii because… Well, that’s what people do.” He chuckled. “But I found some weird ass ghost tours that hit a lot of old crime scenes and the like. I thought it’d be the sort of weird right up our alley. The hotel’s even got a weird past.”

“Hah, I love it! Of course you’d find the perfect thing for both of us.” the younger man kissed his husband on the cheek and turned back to look at the details Hank had brought up on the screen. “Hopefully we remember to leave the room.” he teased with a sly smile on his lips.

Hank laughed warmly. “I have to give your cute ass at least _some_ reprieve. Don’t want to break you on our honeymoon.”

“Who says it’s going to be _my_ ass that’s in trouble?” Connor nudged Hank playfully and bit his lip.

“Oh! Challenge accepted! Maybe we won’t be leaving the room after all?” Hank leaned in to kiss Connor’s neck, and left a little hickey in his wake.

Connor laughed lightly but also moaned at the pressure on his neck. “Don’t start that or we won’t even book the honeymoon!”

Hank made a soft noise as he pulled away. “…I wish that wasn’t such a valid point. I was just about to close the damn thing so I could make out with you.”

“Reservations first, then I’m all yours,” the younger man promised.

“If I must!” Hank lamented playfully and clicked onto the reservation screen.

***

Connor collapsed in a chair. “I need to start running again. That walking tour shouldn’t have hurt my feet so much.” He kicked off his shoes and sighed. It was late and they’d just gotten back from a ghost tour around the town. It was fascinating although nothing spooky happened. He was a little disappointed but they had more tours scheduled for later in the week, so hopefully he’d have better luck next time. “How are you holding up?”

Hank chuckled as he slumped into his own chair. “I’m grateful to have a Saint Bernard’s stamina at this point, I’m doing alright.” The older man kicked off his shoes and pulled out his hair tie. “Need me to rub your feet, love?”

The younger man propped his feet up in Hank’s lap. “This feels weirdly backwards, but yes, I’d love that.”

“Backwards? Are you calling me old now?” He laughed as he started to massage Connor’s feet.

“Noooo—“ Connor drug out the sound, putting his best innocent face on. “That feels so nice,” he purred, trying to be distracting.

Hank clucked his tongue against his teeth. “You’re lucky I haven’t rescinded this massage!” 

Despite his words, Hank’s hands showed no signs of stopping as they worked along Connor’s feet and heels. Slowly he worked his way up Connor’s legs, kneading the tired muscles as they crept upward.

Connor’s head dropped back and he closed his eyes, murmuring every once in awhile in pleasure at the feeling of Hank’s hands on his skin.

As his hands drifted up further, Hank eventually encountered the unfortunate barrier of Connor’s shorts. He glanced up at his husband, admiring the man for a moment, and then slid his hand over the shorts to cup Connor’s package. 

“If you take the rest of this pesky clothing off,” Hank started playfully, “I could continue my massage.”

“Mm, I do like that idea,” the younger man replied. He was certainly dressed for the weather, wearing shorts and a ridiculous button up shirt that Hank had picked out for him; but the pattern was kind of starting to grow on him. He unbuttoned it and shrugged it off before sliding out of his shorts. Connor went over to the bed and laid down on his stomach. “Better?”

“Mmm, much better.” Hank replied. 

He had shrugged off his own clothes as Connor did and joined him on the bed. The older man placed a kiss on his partner’s back before slipping between his legs to continue his massage. His fingers rubbed soothing circles into Connor’s thighs, and trailed slowly over his hips to firmly massage his ass. Hank lingered there for a little bit more than was proper for a massage in order to coax a soft, moan of a sigh out of his partner… and then he moved up to his lower back. By the time he was making his way back down, he was on his knees, perched over Connor so that he rubbed against Connor ever so slightly as he moved over the other man’s body. All the better to ‘innocently’ tease Connor.

Connor made quiet sounds as his husband’s hands massaged him, getting more turned on at the very slight touches meant to tease him. It was like fire in his veins as expectations kept giving way to frustration. He wiggled his ass temptingly, inviting Hank to do more than tease.

Hank chuckled softly as his fingers found their way back to Connor’s ass. “Is something the matter, Con? Why are you squirming?” He continued to massage his ass, but his lips abruptly pressed to one soft cheek. He sank his teeth into Connor’s firm ass cheek, just enough to leave a little bruise, and then kissed the mark he’d made. “Are you thinking about something other than massages?”

Moaning at the bite, Connor’s fingers clutched into the sheets. “I am,” he admitted, looking back at Hank and wiggling again. “I might be thinking about how nice it would be to have you inside me.”

“Is that so?” He let his hand trail down over the soft curve of Connor’s ass, to dip beneath him and fondle the younger man. He wasn’t surprised to find Connor already hard from his affections. Slowly he began massaging Connor’s cock as his tongue traced his hand’s path downward.

Connor let out a strangled sound at the unexpected feeling of Hank’s tongue against him. He gasped lightly and his hips rocked forward against the older man’s hand.

Hank grinned to himself as he started to run his tongue along Connor’s ass, licking and teasing the tight hole while his fingers worked Connor’s cock. Connor made such lovely noises as he worked. Once they had reached an almost desperate pitch, Hank exchanged his tongue for his fingers; two in one motion, pressing deep into Connor.

“F-fuck,” the younger man stuttered, moving back against Hank’s fingers despite how tight he still was. He wanted badly to touch himself but knew he wasn’t allowed so instead he just whimpered softly into the sheets. “Hank, please,” he begged.

Connor was always so quick to beg, his poor little love. Hank fondled Connor’s balls with one hand while pressing the other fingers in deeper. “Please what?”

“I want m-more,” he shuddered, rocking his ass greedily against Hank’s fingers. They were big but they weren’t enough; he still felt too empty.

“I bet you do. I bet you already want my cock in your ass?” He gave Connor’s balls another squeeze before he withdrew both hands. He grabbed the lube back out of the nightstand and returned his attention to Connor’s ass. With proper lube on his fingers, he slid three digits in and began to pump in and out of Connor’s ass.

“Yes, yes, I want it, Hank, I want you,” Connor moaned. The extra finger felt better, stretched him wider, but they always played this game. He wanted Hank to make him wait, to tease him until the last possible second. He wanted his lover to teach him patience.

“I know you do, Con.” He continued to fuck Connor with his fingers. Always seeking new angles to pull even more perverse noises of pleasure from his lover. 

All of this teasing and touching, massaging and fondling, just to bring Connor to the edge of his climax… and then pull away completely. While his lover writhed and moaned on the bed, Hank leaned back onto his knees. “Come here, love, and put that perverted mouth to good use.”

Connor whimpered again but did as he was told and moved to bring himself to Hank’s lap. He licked his lips and took the older man’s cock into his mouth, moaning against it. His own cock was hard between his legs and dripping pre-come but he resisted stroking himself. Instead he pressed his fingers into Hank’s legs to steady himself as he kept sucking.

Hank moaned roughly as his hand slipped down to tangle into Connor’s hair. He let Connor suck him for just a few minutes then leaned into the younger man to shove his fingers back inside of him. He could feel his lover moaning against his cock, his suction growing more intense as he rocked into the sensation and simultaneously tried to keep up with his task.

Until the pressure in his ass overwhelmed him and he tossed his head back, moaning softly as Hank’s cock slipped from his mouth and spread a line of pre-come and saliva across his face. “You’ve been a _very_ good boy.”

Slipping his fingers out of Connor, Hank shifted to grab his lover’s hip and push him down onto the bed. Connor blinked up at him from his back, legs open in an invitation that Hank couldn’t deny. “Remember, we have to be very quiet so as not to disrupt our neighbors,” Hank warned playfully. 

Connor whimpered and nodded, trying to convince himself to stay quiet even as his ass ached to be filled. Hank smiled tenderly and slipped between Connor’s legs, before pressing his erection to his lover’s ass. He was slow with him, like he’d been slow with everything else, drawing out the sensation of slowly filling Connor so that Connor was left with his hands over his mouth, gasps and moans spilling between his fingers.

“Hank, Hank, please,” he moaned through his hands before he realized he was still being too loud. Pushing his own fingers into his mouth, Connor sucked on them desperately, the noises only slightly muffled. He wanted it so much harder even though he knew that would make him even less quiet.

Hank groaned softly at the sight of Connor desperately sucking his own fingers. “What’s the matter, love? Can’t contain yourself? Need your mouth full too so you can’t scream for my cock?” He’d begun to move now, slowly thrusting into his partner as he teased him.

Connor nodded furiously, a little bit of drool dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. He wanted to beg Hank to fuck him harder but all he could do was moan around his fingers and rock his hips forward to grind his ass against the older man.

The sight of his polite Connor turning into this lustful kitten was just too much. Hank groaned roughly as he began to pick up his pace, thrusting harder and harder as Connor twitched and trembled beneath him. “I bet getting your ass and your mouth fucked at the same time feels really good, hm? Maybe we’ll have to get you a toy so I can take advantage of that lewd mouth of yours for you.”

The younger man attempted to respond appropriately to that but mostly he just writhed more under Hank and pressed his fingers in and out of his mouth as he was fucked in both places. Hank was definitely not wrong. It felt amazing.

Hank’s fingers pressed into Connor’s hips as he slammed against him. “Do you want it on you or inside of you?”

Connor pulled his fingers out to answer but a flood of moans spilled from his lips instead. “Ah, Hank, inside, please, please,” he couldn’t help begging. He pushed the fingers back in to keep from screaming any more. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes as he trembled against the older man.

“Good boy, now come for me and I’ll fill you up.”

The younger man whimpered against his fingers and shook as he finally came for Hank, practically choking as he stopped himself from crying out as he spilled come all over his own stomach.

Hank bit his lip as Connor came, ass tight and twitching around his cock until he was absolutely unable to hold back any longer. He spilled himself deep inside of Connor, hips bucking in time with his orgasm. “Fuuck, Connor… You’re so good.”

Connor whimpered again, softer as he felt the warmth of Hank’s come rushing inside of him and, dropping his hand from his mouth finally, he gasped for air. He was an absolute wreck, covered in drool and come.

“What a hot mess you are,” Hank said admiringly as he peered down at his partner. He was tempted to slump into a happy mess with his partner, but he should probably take responsibility for making Connor such a mess. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” 

He offered his hands to Connor and helped his husband into the washroom. The tub was way too big for two people, but that was a luxury they certainly didn’t have back in Detroit. “We are going to have to fuck in here at some point,” Hank admitted as he started warming up the water.

In the meantime, he slid his arms around Connor’s waist and pulled him close. “How are you doing, love?”

Connor collapsed comfortably back against Hank. “I’m exhausted but I’m satisfied in every other way possible, I think. I’ll probably need your help to be presentable again.” He giggled softly, his head still spinning.

As Hank had expected. He’d gotten used to his lover’s little after-sex daze. “I’ll take good care of you.” He gently stepped into the tub and guided Connor in after him. They sank into the warm water together, Connor’s head on Hank’s chest as Hank gently stroked his fingers through the younger man’s hair.

For a long while they just soaked in the warm water and talked about their adventures for the day, but eventually Hank finished helping his husband get tidied up and got them both into bed — properly this time.

The younger man snuggled up to Hank, sighed happily and let his heavy eyelids shut. “Love you,” he slurred slightly, half-asleep already.

Hank beamed in the dark room. “I love you too, My Prince.”


End file.
